Of course the easiest way to avoid the inherent pitfalls in scales is to play through chords instead, unfortunately there is almost no material out there on how to do that. Luckily for us, Kirks' P.T. materials does include how to play through chords.
In your statement about scales making it easier to figure out melodies,I think you will find more success using chords instead. Most melodies are based on chord tones. For instance,B.B.King, The thrill is Gone, is all chord tones for the first 6 bars. SRVs' The Things I Used To Do can be played almost exclusivley by just picking the notes from the chords. Take a tune you have the tabs for that you know very well and sit down and relate the notes to the chords above each bar and you will see what I mean.
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