What is the point of such a rifle?
You might want to read up on Jeff Cooper's "Scout Rifle concept", there's a whole philosophy behind the things.
Briefly a scout rifle is intended to be a good general purpose rifle that can deal with pretty much any eventuality. It's also supposed to be light weight (7lbs or less) and high enough power to stop any reasonable target (so generally a 308). It is meant to be reliable and durable so that it can be taken out in the field and subject to abuse, so generally bolt action. It's also meant to be designed for rapid use, so relatively short (about a meter) and with with no obstructions near the action (forward mounted scope, if any), so easy access to the bolt for quick reloading.
There is a whole lot more to the concept, it's a good and interesting read if you google it. Cooper was an expert at the US Marine's "gunsite" center and put a lot of thought into the concept. The US version of the Ruger Scout is called the "gunsite scout" because Gunsite approved of it. There is a "Cooper" version of the Steyr, which also carries Coopers personal stamp of approval. Savage has no such accreditation but I understand they have tried to meet most of the requirements.
They are not meant to be used like sniper rifles, where you lie there and take your time to line up your shot. They are meant for rapidly evolving situations, such as hunting where you might catch quick sight of a moving animal (perhaps a bear, charging you) or obviously Cooper was thinking of a similar military situation.
I can understand if you just want iron sights, but as soon as you are thinking about mounting optics they become useless, compared to a standard rifle.
Not true. Scope on a Scout should be low power (3x or less) and forward mounted for long eye relief. This fits with the "rapid use" requirement: in such a configuration when you see a target you can keep your eyes on target, while bringing the rifle up to you shoulder quickly, and fire, all without taking your eyes off the target. You aim a scout rifle with both eyes open, one looking down the scope.
Cooper even specified that a scout rifle should have a ching sling, just so you can do exactly that.
They are good rifles for actual use in the field, a little less suited to the target range. If you think about all the above you can see why the Canadian Rangers were interested in outfitting their guys with Scout rifles.
