I am mostly a hand quilter. I have hand quilted Warm & Natural batting many times with very few issues. The only time I had to use pliers was when I doubled the batting for a particular project.
I just finished two quilts. One with Quilter's Dream Select and one with Quilter's Dream Request. I found them to be very similar in the actual quilting but one did beard more than the other and, unfortunately, I do not remember which one did that. I do think the QD batts had a much nicer drape to it than the W&N.
Those are the only battings I've used. I'm not a prolific quilter and had bought a roll of the W&N years ago and only recently ran out of that. The two latest quilts were baby quilts and I wanted 100% cotton - no poly - for those and since they were small just popped over to my LQS to purchase those.
Generally speaking I prefer 100% natural battings (among other things - clothing, etc. - if available). If I were going to do a true 'heirloom' quilt, I would probably go with wool or silk. Otherwise I would just stick to cotton and I would not be overly concerned about any scrim.
Good luck in your continued search.