I don't feel one way or another about the scanning. It was weirdly addictive and I wouldn't have checked out the planet descriptions otherwise, and they were pretty neat. On the other hand it was soooooooo slooooow and the upgrade you get doesn't seem to make any difference until you start a new game and don't have it anymore. It just feels slower and slower each time I play. The Mako was kind of fun to dick around with.