Well if you wanted a TRUE scout rifle, the Ruger is not the place to start.
Bull puckey. Cooper's requirements for a scout were as follows:
-Chambered in .308, 7mm-08, or for recoil shy shooters .243
No problem - the Ruger is in .308
-Weight of 6.6 lbs, and as an absolute max 7.7 lbs with everything but ammo
My Ruger #6830 with 3 round synthetic mag, all 3 stock spacers, the brake, Warne detachable rings, a Leupold 2.5x scout scope, and a RifleCraft safari Ching sling is 7.6 lbs unloaded so it just sneaks in under the line. Note that Cooper's approved scout, the Steyer, is 4 oz heavier for the base gun and the Savage is even worse. AFAIK the accessories I chose are the lightest currently available that meet the other scout requirements, so if you use one of the other scout rifles as a base, yours will be heavier than mine. The wood stock Rugers are a bit heavier - I guess you could argue they're pseudo scouts
-No longer than 39 inches
No problem - the Ruger is shorter than that even with all the stock spacers in.
-Capable of reloading via detachable box magazines or stripper clips (or both)
The Ruger takes detachable box magazines.
-Mount a fixed low magnification long eye relief optic forward of the ejection port
The Ruger comes with appropriate mounting hardware. Obviously it's up to the user to buy and mount the right scope.
-Mount additional ghost ring iron sights as a backup with a means of accessing them in the field.
The Ruger comes with ghost ring iron sights. If you use the Warne or similar rings, getting to the irons is no problem.
-Mount a Ching or CW type shooting sling
The Ruger has no problem with a safari-type Ching sling, and the stock has a spot for an extra stud if you want to go old school (which I can't see any reason for - the safari version is superior IMO).
-Capable of 2 minute of angle accuracy
Every Ruger scout I've ever shot managed this.
There's really nothing to debate - the new synthetic stock Ruger scouts meet the requirements. They ARE scouts (assuming you buy the obvious accessories). Furthermore, I believe they're the only way to bolt together commercially available parts to make a gun that meets the scout specs. You could potentially go lighter using say a Kimber Adirondack as a base gun, but that would require a custom scope base, custom bottom metal, and custom installed iron sights.