It's a combination of personal preference and playstyle.

If you play fast, aggressive, and that "By-the-seat-of-your-pants" feeling, then go Minmatar. The suit is an adrenaline rush, due to most builds (REAL scout builds, not armor tanked mockeries of med frames) having only around 300 eHP total, with about 200ish in shields. It allows you to quickly tank some damage, get the kill, and then run like hell away. Shields rep in no time, so then it's right back into the fray. It's made to be a hit and run suit, quickly getting into the action, assassinating one or two targets and getting the hell out of there (KILL THE LOGI FIRST). However, with the death of speed tanking, and the terrible Nova Knives, this suit has lost it's main calling cards.

If you play carefully, tactically, and love having amazing situational awareness, then go Gallente. With a higher eHP ceiling, and an insane passive scan, you can survive multiple engagements. Use that scan to know what you are getting into. Since you can see around that corner (without tipping them off to it), try to make your engagements on terms you can win. Two guys around a corner, with one with his back to you? Take em both out. Got a squad all about to round the corner? Set a trap or get the hell out. It's made to infiltrate the enemies lines, and to carefully maneuver around targets to eliminate HVT's and to capture unattended points.

For the record, I have been a Minmatar Scout since 1.1.

Switching to Gallente over the 3x SP event. That's my current opinion on the Minmatar Scout.

Works if you start the engagement with an enemies back turned. Might not work for an assault, but a scout needs to use different tactics and a stealthy mindset to succeed.

Also, LINK

13k kills in. Member in good standing. Do your research before you sound like in ignorant idiot.

It's not that I think I am good enough to do research on. It's a simple matter of avoiding looking foolish.

BEFORE calling someone out on anything, do a quick bit of research. It only takes a click or two, and by quickly skimming through a bit of comment history, you can confirm or deny your own suspicions.

Thanks for staying civil though. Not many people do that.

Also, as to tanking the damage. Bad wording on my part. Think of it more as surviving the damage. When you flank someone, they have a small window of opportunity to deal damage. You want to deal enough damage before they can start hitting you so that you can kill them before they break through your shield "Tank". 200 shields is enough for my minnie to quickly suprise one or two people and survive. Then you run away and wait for that amazing shield regen to kick in.

It's hard for some players to do, because it requires you to KNOW which targets you can quickly kill before they break your shields. You see that logi with 1000eHP? You better start the engagement off with a grenade, or he will kill you for sure when he turns around.

It's tactics and the mindset which make the suit. If you wanna talk about this in more detail, send me mail in game. I would happily squad up with you.