I have the Savage Scout and love it...but then I've also handled one of the Ruger's Compacts and they are sweet as well. I like the Savage's detachable maganizes and much prefer the "ghost-ring" sights despite me having a low power scope on it. Mine is the newer version and has the adjustable Accu-Trigger which is a nice feature as well. You can set it up with a regular mounted scope, but it's really built as a scout with the IER scope.
If you found the Ruger at a lower price than the Savage...I would jump on it, as I think fit and finish is slightly better, but I really don't think you could go wrong with either.
ROCK6