In my part of the world the pronunciation as 'scown' to rhyme with known'was seen as extremely affected. The only kids who pronounced it thus were those whose parents were rich enough to send them to elocution lessons.
I make cheese scones (rhymes with owns) regularly and put LOADS of grated cheese actually in the mixture and it has to be vintage strong cheddar and cayenne pepper to give them some ooomph!
Pal told me she adds a bit of Marmite to her mix, but havent tried that yet. I do mine at 180' in fan oven, another tip is not to roll them out too much, just a gentle roll then cut out