Im not a big fan of scopes on either really, although I do have a couple of bolt guns with a scope mounted, but they are more of a "precision" type rifle.
A bolt with a proper stock (IE, think pre 50-60s commercial rifles, or issue military rifles of the last century), that has a proper LOP and comb that is meant for irons, is just as handy and mountable as a lever gun. The problem these days, you dont see many rifles stocked this way anymore. Seems everyone wants a scope these days, and a recoil pad, and the gun makers are happy to oblige. This isnt a problem with just the bolt guns either, Ive had to deal with a couple of lever guns lately, with overly long stocks, and had to modify them as well. Besides the scope thing, seems many these days, are recoil shy, even on guns with no recoil.
Contrary to what some will tell you, a bolt action rifle is not removed from the shoulder to work the action. With proper tecnique, a bolt action is not "slow" to operate either, and its more solid in the shoulder, as the operation of the bolt drives the butt into your shoulder, not down towards the ground.
Then there is the loading/reloading issue, which is strictly in the bolts favor.
I have a number of both types, and shoot them both a good bit. While my pistol caliber levers are probably the handiest, my favorite bolts, are not much bigger, and still very handy. They also will outperform the pistol caliber guns in most respects. My rifle caliber levers are very comparable to those same bolt guns, in both size and weight, and again, still usually fall behind in the performance department.
The only way to figure this out, and understand the pluses and minuses, is to put the time in with both, and figure things out, or at least what works best for your needs.
Personally, I think a lot of the misconceptions against the bolt guns, is simply due to the lack of realistic training in shooting them these days, and the lack of rifles properly set up for field use with iron sights.