I hear what your saying. I like Nelsonites definition of scales. A matrix of notes. Thinking of a scale as being embedded in a field of surrounding notes is a great way to think of them. The trick is to not ignore those surrounding notes. One of my first scale books was an analysis of blues riffs using the major and minor pentatonic scales. The book completely ignored all the other notes in the riffs of which there were many. The entire book failed to mention these other notes once. I had a course in how to play scales in every key all over the fretboard. Again,2 cds of lessons and not one mention of non scale notes. When the guy jammed, it was almost pure scales. You can see how easy it would be to fall into thinking scales are a straight line and stand alone.
I apologize for not being clearer about my thinking on scales. Scales are a fine tool as long as you can still see and easily add in non scale notes. At the highest level of playing scales and chords should blend into one seamless whole IMHO.
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