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exactly how useful are scouts and sniper rifles and pinning in general? I like the idea of them as an interesting ranged unit with nice ups and understandable downs. As a new player I'm wondering how they tend to work out in practical application and whether they are a good investment as opposed to the alternate option, the seemingly polar opposite assault squad. So how useful are scouts? What have people found they do well, and where do they fall short?

Last game my 5 man Sniper scout unit killed 2 long fangs, then when they were assaulted by 2 terminators, they killed one before he got to strike, and killed the next one in my opponents turn.

The game before that they killed a Demon Prince in CC because he charged them and they were in cover.

Usually they do little more than camp an objective in my deployment zone with a 3+ cover save that modifies to 2+ when they GTG.

Scouts with sniper rifles are by and large terrible. A unit of 10, on average, will hit with 5 shots, and wound with 2-3 of them. If you're shooting a monstrous creature or Marine they probably have a 3+ save and block 2 of those. A five man squad with camo cloaks or Telion is good for holding a home objective for cheap, but that's about it.

Outflanking scouts with shotguns or BP/CCW is pretty decent though. They're not a great dedicated assault unit, but are good at tying up something in the backfield.

I have been thinking about using a 6-8-man squad of Eldar Pathfinders as a suppression unit; if supported by a Farseer I think htey may be decent at taking down high-armour targets.

Thoughts?

I'm making a blood angels army list, and I'm thinking of taking some camo cloaked scouts as a cheap home base holding kind of unit with a lot of range. 5 man, I think I can take a missle launcher as well? Would this be effective?

a ML is effective most of the time, it just gives a bit of anti-vehicle punch and gives you a better chance to destroy heavy infantry.
In almost every of my games with Space Marines I take such a unit. Often I use a (cheap) techmarine's bolster defenses rule.
This gives the scouts a 2+ cover save, which will make them much more durable.

I used them a few times in the past, more just to use up a few points more than anything.

The wound on 4+ means they're great at taking out high toughness targets and the Rending rule helps them pack a punch.

Waste of points if they can only see weaker units all game though.

Give them a go and see how they do.

I'm building an Eldar army based on the remainders of a destroyed Craftworld. So they recall their many Rangers/Pathfinders, so my list pretty much revolves around them and a Farseer. Hardly competitive, but fun and fluffy.

Pathfinders are somewhat better because they can rend on 5+, have a decent BS to start with, and have stealth. Scout snipers are really, really mediocre. Even with a missile launcher, they're only hitting half the time anyway.

Also, the idea of taking any of these units as a "suppression unit" is unfortunately a bad joke. When was the last time you honestly pinned a unit? With leaderships of 9 and 10, plus the amount of Fearless around, you're not going to pin Marine armies of any flavor, be it Chaos or loyalist. With blanket fearless, you're not going to pin Orks, Nids, or Daemons. With Get Back Into the Fight you're not going to do much to slow down IG. Honestly, the only armies you'll do well at all against are Tau, since DE and craftworld Eldar have high leadership values too.

Anyone who's not a pathfinder should stay clear of sniper rifles.

Damnit. Assault marines are so boring, and everything else is so damn expensive. I want something way out in left field that provides a unique ranged element to my cc heavy army. I was hoping sc[i]outs would provide some pinning action to allow the assault squads to pounce. Thanks for the info on other armies though, not having played much.I was unaware of what I was wanting to pin. Assault marines it is.

I would stick the vindicare assassin in this category. Expensive in points but with the weaponry to rip apart some enemy forces. I used mine against CSM and the turbo-penetrator shots were gross, 4d6 for the penetration is pretty tasty. Well-placed he is a proper thorn in the enemy's side.