Scotchbrite is terrific stuff IMO. I'd been using it forever for ski base prep. Swix rebrands it as "fibertex" and charges an arm and a leg. Most serious ski tuners figure it out quickly and use the stuff in the 3M catalog.
In any case I use it in place of steel wool for rubbing, for cleaning and light rust removal, etc. The thing to be aware of is that there are several grades with different abrasive types and grit. The maroon and grey pads are good for things like rust removal, while the white ones are basically equivalent to 0000 steel wool.