Dwight,
To make sure we're all on the same page, when you say "sugar scoop" presumably you are referring to a reverse transom with one or more swim steps molded in. If so, you should have plenty of choices if a sugar scoop is what you want -- it is the most common stern nowadays and has been for a while.
This kind of stern has a lot to commend it. They are great for getting on and off the boat, particularly from the dinghy. Also, they are very handy if you like to swim from your boat. Often times these sugar scoop transoms will have storage lockers built into them as well, which are especially handy for storing gasoline jugs, spare propane tanks, etc. since vapors will spill outside the boat.
On the downside, for a given length boat, a sugar scoop (or any reverse transom for that matter) will be a "smaller" boat than a similar length boat with a traditional stern and comparable beam. That is to say, quite a bit of potential interior volume is forfeited because the reverse rake of the stern is essentially lost space and the cockpit as well as accommodations must be shifted forward.
If somebody were looking for the smallest boat possible that would fit their needs, I would steer them away from any reverse transom (or canoe stern) for this reason -- in a small boat too much interior volume is sacrificed. Once you get up into larger boats for many people the advantages of the sugar scoop are well worth the trade-off. But you still have to be mindful when comparing boats of different lengths vis a vis overall value. A 40 foot traditional sterned boat will usually have quite a bit more cockpit stowage, deck space, and interior volume than a 40 footer with a reverse transom. So it's not exactly apples to apples.
Another downside of reverse transoms, especially those that incorporate swim steps, is that their aft cabins tend to be very noisy at anchor. If there is a swim step, the transom scoop is usually carried very low, almost down to the waterline. This allows any small waves to slap slap slap on the flatish underside of the hull. If the boat has an aft cabin, this noise can get very wearisome, even when the waves are only slightly larger than ripples. (Not all sugar scoop boats have this problem, but many do.)
These are just a few of my general observations. As for biases, I have to confess that I don't prefer the aesthetics of reverse transoms in general, and especially sugar scoops. But more than likely I will own one some day...
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