I actually hate scrambles unless crosswalks > 4. In a "standard" 4-way intersection, scramble signals make everyone wait much longer to get where they're going. I say this as a pedestrian most of the time, where I'm frustrated I can't go when the traffic in the same direction as me is going. It's also frustrating when the scramble goes off and you're in a car, and nobody is trying to cross.
However, in a 5+ way intersection, they seem to work great.
I also hate when people argue things are "safer" because they stop people from going at the same time that could collide. Congratulations, you've now made people stop and wait, get frustrated, and jaywalk. Trust that people actually don't want to hit each other, and you'll find they won't.
Perhaps your tone got you downvotes. You are correct about delays, if you compare the "scramble" to a concurrently signalled intersection where pedestrians and vehicles move simultaneously in a given direction on green.
Put another way, the maximum latency of a scramble to get to any corner is the sum of duration of both vehicle moves. For concurrent signals, it is more complicated, but non-diagonal latency is no worse than the maximum single vehicle move, and travel on the diagonal has better latency as well.
Scrambles reduce geometric distance to travel, but reliew on "all stop" exclusive signalling that increases pedestrian delay, which has been shown to reduce compliance. Scramble is better than exclusive signaling without scramble of pedestrians, but it precludes turn on red (which is also better for pedestrians, but constrains traffic flow).
There are various safety arguments for concurrent vs exclusive signalization, but the argument isn't clear cut, particularly in the presence of turn on red.
However, in a 5+ way intersection, they seem to work great.
I also hate when people argue things are "safer" because they stop people from going at the same time that could collide. Congratulations, you've now made people stop and wait, get frustrated, and jaywalk. Trust that people actually don't want to hit each other, and you'll find they won't.