Don't let common names trip ya up: If I said what is Ironwood, some guys would say Hop Horn beam. They would be right, but they would also be wrong because Ironwood is a common name that's used to describe Hop Horn Beam, Blue Beech, along with a bunch of other species. The deal with whether it's Scots Pine or Scotch Pine doesn't matter anymore than if you called it "Bob's Tree". To be accurate, use it's proper name: Pinus silvestri. It's a tree that isn't native to North America but it was brought over here just like dandelions or gypsy moths, stuff gets moved around. Another good example of getting confused over tree species is the cedars... Thujas or Juniperus.. Red cedar, white cedar, true red cedar, eastern white ceder, northern white cedar, it all can get confusing unless you start getting into the habit of using Genus and species. That's a cool photo of a Scots Pine but be careful not to view an individual growing under certain conditions and apply the morphology to an entire population. A case in point is the difference in form between an maple growing in a field and an maple growing in a dense forest. Any tree will grow up given competition versus spreading in an open area.
From experience as a climber for a tree service along with doing a bit of logging on the side in an area that has white pines, red pines, scots pines (P. silvestri), norway pines (gotcha, they are the same as red pines), along with a lot of other conifers, I feel a lot safer working the scots pines as they are as tough as a lot of hardwoods.
