Scorpion has viable tools without any of his variations added, good normals.
Strings that launch, and you can hit confirm into teleport or other special moves, a normal that hops over low attacks and is a combo starter, best set of universal moves and can alter their proprieties ( tele cancel, hellish spear)
The variations are just a tip of the cake:
Ninjutsu, scorpion gets a fast AA launcher move (upslash), and a fast overhead move (downlash), some of his strings gets a sword inbetween.
Hellfire gets a flame aura that is a special move that works as combo starter, increases overall damage output and chip damage output and last for 360 frames, a hell ball that is chargable and dash cancelable, demon fire that is unblockable and advantageous on hit.
Inferno gets to summon a demon from the ground which is a capture type trait, so it will allow trades, from above, kind of slow but allows but still good to AA in specific ranges, and from behind which prevenis opponenents for turtling or step away from scorpion.
Imo, scorpion probably has the best mobility tools even without any of his traits, the fact that his teleport no longer tracks, allows players to scope safe spots to teleport without hitting characters in the process.
Yes, ppl are still sleeping on Scorpion. Which is good.