Scanning can offer real practical advantages, but it also adds another reproduction step, which can cost image quality if not done well.

Main advantages of scanning include easier dust spotting/cloning, simpler color balancing for color work, and avoiding darkroom print washing and chemistry. If you must scan, preserving quality matters: avoid clipping highlights/shadows, avoid heavy in-scan curve processing, and ensure accurate focus/film flatness.

In general, every extra copy step can lose information. Going from film directly to print avoids some losses. Scanning from a print is especially undesirable because you are making a copy of a copy.

If the scan is made directly from the negative, quality depends heavily on the scanner. A high-end drum scan can be excellent and may be worthwhile for demanding large prints. Lower-end scanning setups can lose detail and tone compared with a strong optical enlargement workflow. Medium format film is generally easier to scan well than 35mm, and good film holders or anti-Newton glass can help with curled film.

So: scanning is often advantageous for workflow and control, and top-end scans can support very high-quality large prints, but direct optical printing remains the more direct path and avoids some quality loss.