It's a combo of hand cannons and shotties being way too OP in the current metagame. Also, the fact that there is only 1 exotic scout available currently as opposed to freaking 3 top tier pistols, one of them being the best PvP weapon in the whole game. Pistols are not supposed to be as effective from range yet with Thorn, Hawkmoon, hell even TLW you can snipe people from miles away and get ez kills. With the target acquisition and those amazing perks in those pistols, they almost always outgun scouts from mid to long range. The high impact means that all you need are a few well placed shots and you're getting the kill. TTK from pistols are way too fast in the current meta and scouts just take way too many shots to land a kill. My fav weapon in the game is MIDA and I always try and keep away when using it but even when you do it all right you still get outgunned by the top 3 pistols easily. The range displayed on their stats is a massive lie, they can snipe as easily as scouts so their biggest advantages is not much of one at all. There is no incentive to use scouts over pistols other than that sweet MIDA radar but I play inferno mostly anyway. As for close range? Shotties dump all over scouts. You're not supposed to be up close with scouts but it's bound to happen. You can stop a rushing shottie with a pistol and pulse sometimes with well placed crits/bursts but with scouts, you better be praying that your opponent misses the package. It's going to take a miracle to stop a rushing shottie with a scout if his start is from mid range. From mid range, pulse rifles seem much better. Red Death will outgun a MIDA from mid range most of the time. For the record, I have a Luna with full auto + hand laid stock + red dot + crowd control. One of my fav weapons to use in PvP but outclassed across the board. The rof is faster than a Suros ADS for my money which is one of the few pros of the gun. You could roll that on a NL shadow as well or a High Road Soldier.