and to me all of that is part of why you would even bother with film + negatives - the analog process of discovery. taking shots with film and then just shipping them off to a lab to me is removing an important step to someone else's hands. personally, i would rather screw up a few rolls as i learn how to do it (and in fact, i would shoot a dozen "throwaway" rolls just so i CAN learn how to do it) then leave it in the hands of a bulk machine at a lab. push, pull, cross processing, etc. are all things you can control when you do it yourself.
this is off topic, but personally, i do not shoot film for production of as many perfect, predictable prints as possible (say that 3 times fast) - i shoot film because i enjoy the serendipitous aspects of the medium, as well as the process. i admit that i vastly differ from most people in that respect, so i guess to me the screw-ups are as enjoyable as the "correct" frames.
so to your point in some way i agree - if you are looking to get a large amount of predictable prints then maybe a lab is a good idea, but i think the enjoyment comes in the hand as it is revealed in the film.
as far as scanning goes, we use an Epson 4990 to scan 120 film and for the kind of work we do it has been good - some of those scans have ended up as posters, etc. with no problem.