The scouts, which aren't pretend, are hand picked by SI, they've built up a pretty big network, one so big it's used by a fair few European clubs. Not as a marker for talent, but to check for contract details (length etc), player histories and things they can't usually get straight away without spending money to scout these players. So, for example, if the club had heard through another scout about some young lad in Honduras, they might boot up the database (not the game, you can do that separately) and check out the details before sending a scout to watch them. Every single player in the world, from every country, is on that game; even the British ones go right down to the Humber Premier League with details on every single player. If you don't look at the game or want to play it, it's worth booting up the editor for the database, which gives you access to every player in the world and an interesting look at how the game works behind the scenes.
By the scoring system, do you mean the stats on the screen? If so, they're controlled and manipulated by many factors within the game; they are by no means nailed on, but they aren't 'bollocks'; they're only representative right at the start before the plerson playing has any influence on the game, because as soon as you add a manager the players start to react and the stats start to change. I mean you could manage Barcelona, have Messi and not play him and his stats would go down. I think on one of my saves while I was at uni Rooney ended up at Newcastle for £8m. So you do get some weird things happening, but that's part of the fun.
I agree, pulling names out of a hat because you've seen them on a game is nonsense, it's something I wouldn't do. Watch obscure football games in Korea at 2am, absolutely. But quote FM as gospel, never.