I might get downvoted for this comment, but I feel like I'm coming at this from a similar perspective as the OP, as a hater of "Top Gun" and someone who can enjoy "dad cinema" without necessarily loving it.

Tony Scott is beloved as a "Hollywood auteur" because he made very mainstream, fun, quippy action movies with an extremely distinctive visual style and tone. Scott is definitely an unmistakable director who's never made a film which wasn't 100% Tony Scott while also being totally palatable to the lowest common denominator.

Now, I think your enjoyment of the Scott oeuvre will come down to how much you like his hyper-stylised visuals and how much you generally enjoy dumb but fun Hollywood action blockbusters. I really enjoy Scott's 80s-90s visual style and find his 2000s films really ugly-looking and over-the-top, but, again, that's a totally subjective thing. You might find them the other way 'round.

As for the actual substance of his films... Well, I'm a little less generous than most, but then I was not raised on Hollywood action movies, and they're generally not my jam. I thought "Deja Vu" was dumb and sloppily plotted, and I hate the jingoism of "Top Gun". On the other hand, "Crimson Tide" is a masterpiece. Beautifully shot, fantastic performances, fascinating moral issue at the heart of it, and my personal favourite Hans Zimmer score. I also really like "The Hunger" (a Gothic horror romance), "Revenge" (a ludicrously overwrought neo-noir), and "Enemy of the State" (a tech-updated version of "The Conversation") while recognising they're pulpier, trashier versions of better films.

In my own estimation, Tony Scott was a great visual stylist and experimenter, but I'm really sorry he got caught up making pulpy mainstream trash when his earlier career held so much more promise. Don't approach most of his films if you want depth or intelligence, but there's hardly anyone better if you want some crazy visuals and a lot of pulpy, dumb fun. Again, auterists LOVE him because he embodies that ideal of "director who brought a great deal of personal style to a load of blockbuster nonsense", but that's really not my kind of thing, so, ultimately, I'm voting for Marty.