What do you think makes Leupold the best? I looked through the entire Midway scope section, and the scope I'm leaning towards in a Burris handgun model, because of all the versatile features I want--2 to 7 power, and an illuminated dot. I didn't see anything like that from Weaver. I want to make this rifle self-defense capable, so illumination for low light is a criteria for me.
My scout rifles are hunting tools, so things like illuminated reticles are of lesser importance to me than they might be to you. I have never owned a magnifying optic that had an illuminated reticle, so I can't help you there....
One of the things that I've noticed with all of my Burris scopes (pistol, scout, and traditional FF/FFII) is that they do not have nearly the off-axis performance of a Leupold. In other words, they're not nearly as forgiving if your eye isn't exactly just so; the image 'rings' or gets cloudy or some such thing. Of the brands listed (Weaver, Leupold, Burris, or Nikon) Leupold has the best off-axis performance, is generally the clearest, and is certainly the most rugged. Surprisingly, I'd vote the cheapie Weaver pistol scopes into second place. They may not be sexy, but they work.
Be aware that variable-power pistol scopes change their eye relief when zooming far more dramatically than does a traditional rifle scope. This means that eye relief that's OK for 4x may not be enough for the same scope of 6x. For that reason, I've decided to stick with fixed power on scout setups.
Also - scout setups generally aren't designed for long-range precision work. The limited field of view of a scout scope is compensated for by the non-magnified field of view that the scout arrangement gives you. This works well for close up work, but makes it more difficult to track moving targets at more extended ranges. If you're looking for something with precision 200+ yard capability, you might want to rethink the scout concept and perhaps evaluate something like a TriPower. Conversely, if you're looking for mostly <200 yard work, you will probably find that the 2.5x fixed power of the traditional scout scopes is 'just right' - not too much for CQB but enough to get accurate hits on pie plates at 200 yards. There's a reason that the true 'scout scopes' aren't variable power - it's simply not needed.
You can always try the Burris and see how it works; if it's not to your liking, sell it on eBay and try again. Goodness knows, that's what I've been doing the last couple of years with regard to scout/pistol scopes.