I think the scanning idea is great. Yaking it one step further, I would index them and put them on a CD. Since I have had hard drive crashes (one on a computer 2 months old), I think the Cd is the way to go. Use 1 CD for each magazine (Fons & Porter, Quiltmaker, etc).
In reality, I know I will never have the time to make all the quits patterns I have saved. I have tried to be more selective when purchasing magazines, but they just lure me in.