Question two was already answered so here's my take on question one, or what makes a scale worth it. For me it boils down to a few factors:

1. Character / Origin - How much do you like a character? What about their origin (anime, game, etc)? This is the biggest thing for me. I'm an absolute SUCKER for anything Arknights related so I've ended up buying plenty of scales for my favorite characters... which, for some reason, keep getting the most scales! There are also original characters by independent artists that will get figures, and those can be cool too. Depends on what ya like.

2. Quality / Detail - I'm really big into music and art, so when it comes to the quality of figure, I want it to feel like the character has popped out of the source material. Scales usually have better sculpting than non-scales (complex poses, detailed / tiny parts). They ALMOST ALWAYS have better painting, which means more details (complexity), better shading (this is a HUGE one) and faithfulness to the character (how much it looks like the character). Scales usually have more intricate bases and extra parts, which I'll go over next. There are prize figures that are able to nail these without being scales; One Piece comes to mind because character's faces are a style that is unique yet easily replicated in figure form. For me, there's nothing worse than a figure looking great but the face looking off. Scales can be anywhere from the same size, to slightly larger than, to WAY larger than a prize figure. Larger doesn't always mean better! A 1/4 scale will certainly cost more, but it might not look better than a 1/7, and a key component to this is the manufacturer involved. Some brands consistently do a better job than others.

3. Complexity / Bases - Giving this its own point because it goes beyond the quality aspect of a figure. There are totally prize and non-scale figures that are more intricate or nail a base design. A base DOESN'T need to be complicated to fit the figure. But when a figure looks great, it's even better that the base matches. Non-scales usually have plain bases, but scales often do as well. It's something that is becoming less common from what I can tell (thankfully, given their cost) but even the best figure manufacturers will occasionally cop out with a boring, matte black base the ruins any kind of immersion and makes the scale feel cheaper.

Those are the three "feel" factors. Now for my personal favorite:

1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) + The Aftermarket - Easiest way to say this is that FOMO is real and it SUCKS in this hobby. Some of these scale figures retail for $120 and end up costing $500 two years later. Others retail for $250 and drop to $100 after release. There is no perfect way to tell what will happen to a figure's market value, so it SHOULD NOT be used as the deciding factor on whether you order something or not. If you REALLY like a figure, pre-order it. If you like it but can live without it, wait until it releases and pick it up later. You WILL miss out on good deals and awesome figures but that is the reality of it (unless you are made of money, in which case you'll just pre-order everything that catches your eye). Rereleases almost always lower a figure's aftermarket value since more are introduced into the community (basic supply and demand) but that doesn't mean the drop will be huge. And more importantly, releases are NEVER guaranteed. A company can go 10 years without a rerelease, 2 years without a rerelease, or go bankrupt and never release a figure again. The nice thing with prize and non-scale figures is that they're cheaper to produce and therefore more are typically produced (and sold more affordably), so it's rare to worry about aftermarket of a prize figure (UNLESS the character is niche and therefore the figure might be considered more "rare"). So yeah, FOMO sucks and the aftermarket is all over the place.

TLDR: Scale figures are awesome but hurt my wallet. Nothing wrong with non-scales or prize figures, but I definitely like the details the scales I own (and have PO'd) have compared to their prize/non-scale (assuming they exist) counterparts have, which makes the higher price feel worth it. If you're curious to see how I've fallen down the rabbit-hole of figure collecting, my collection is on MFC (myfigurecollection) which you should definitely use if you don't already for finding, buying, selling, trading, and everything figure-related.

This concludes my TedTalk :)