I have no idea what your specific requirements for an operating system are. Scientific Linux isn't hard to use - just different. Hard to say if you'll like it or not. My recommendation? Grab a spare HDD and check it out. Here's a review:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20130415#feature
More or less, Scientific Linux is good enough for me to use as my study computer. I do all my schoolwork on mine.
Linux package support goes as follows:
1st Tier: Ubuntu
2nd Tier: RHEL, Debian
3rd Tier: Fedora, Mageia, OpenSuSe, etc.
RHEL and its derivatives are fairly popular. RHEL and CentOS are pretty popular in the server space and Scientific Linux is the standard of FermiLabs, CERN, running the large hardron collider and even some of NASA's computers. You can buy servers from IBM that are preinstalled with RHEL. This is seriously stable stuff, far more stable than even Windows 7 (something Fedora clearly isn't) and runs more stable software than Ubuntu... with a stability level of Debian... but doesn't drive me insane
(I may possibly be biased towards rpm distros). RHEL isn't significantly harder to admin than Ubuntu - most of the "how do I install xyz" can be found if you add "rhel" or "centos" to your search. Just copy and paste the CLI code and you're done.
You should be fine after you set up EPEL and remi (repo). There are so many guides on the internet to help you do so.
If you have problems adjusting, I will do my best to answer any questions you have.