My usual disclaimer, I'm not a scouter, although my wife is.

In our council there are very few boys who wear the scout trousers. Most parents say they are too expensive. This is unrelated to the recession, and this is not a low income area, although it is a high cost area. If they show up in green trousers of any type there is great rejoicing, but most wear jeans or khakis with their scout shirts. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. How anyone gets strict observance of uniform rules in a voluntary organisation is a mystery to me, although evidently many seem to.

In the above context, I would say that a kilt is no better or worse than a pair of blue denim jeans. Come to think of it, I have seen one of the boys wearing a utilikilt or similar, but none of the leaders.

I have previously pontificated on the scout kilt rules on the other side of the pond, but I will just say that it is not only Scotland that permits kilts as uniform. However, Scotland allows any tartan on any scout, whereas in the rest of the UK you must of Scottish descent and either be 'entitled' to the particular tartan, or else wear Maclaren. Saffron kilts are also permitted in Northern Ireland, and for any scout of Irish descent in the rest of the UK. In the Republic it seems that anyone in a troop scarf is 'in uniform' AFAIK.