Funny but there isn't a bad scale. Here's my two bits.
1/1200 or smaller. It's pretty much about owning the finished model and gaming perhaps. or if you set out to build the entire collection of ships involved in the pursuit and sinking of the Bismark, for instance.
1/700. I think this is a great scale. There's so much available. Pros are that they look good and are a large enough scale to have good detail. And they are reasonable cost usually. Again a good scale for a collection. Lots of aftermarket available. But they take a meticulous technique to come out right.
1/400- 1/600. Lots here and this is where you'll start to see sailing ships. Countries that are metric like France kit in these century scales. Also there's lots of aftermarket stuff.
1/350. This is a great scale for steel ships. it's still kind of small for sail. Every kind of aftermarket thing you can imagine. These kits get to be expensive, and typically take a while to build.
1/100-1/200. Great scale for sail.
Anything under 1/100 gets big. Here's the realm of wooden kits and commercial smaller vessels. it's a great area if you are of the model railroad mentality or like to model gear, stuff, figures and lots of detail.
My own take on manufacturers is usually that I'm better than they are and can win the battle with a bad kit. But Tamiya, Hasegawa, Revell, Academy, Airfix, Zvezda, Dragon and Trumpeter all make good models.
There's a new guy here named Tuan that just posted his modern Varyag over in ships. Take a look at that. It's not a very difficult kit, looks like a million rubles, and probably wasn't too expensive.