I can't argue with many of the things said in this thread. It took me several seasons to swallow the whole, "you don't need advanced scouting" mantra. I kept trying to convince myself that it was somehow important regardless of what most people were saying. When I finally let go of that notion, it all became very clear. As new franchise owners, we have several things working against us. It takes a little time for most of us to get past the, "Ohhhh Shiny!" aspect of the Overall Rating. It's just convenient to look at numbers like the projected ratings and Overall and assume the higher the numbers, the better the player must be. A heavy emphasis on OV, a genuine lack of understanding about what player ratings are important, putting too much faith in projections, and having a desire to start making trades right away spells doom in most cases.
To specifically address this topic, I fully agree that 0 ADV Scouting is the only way to go. It sucks it's this way, but why waste the money when you don't have to?