Not had a chance to watch those videos yet, so I may be repeating something you've already learnt, but Dimension3D's free python script "Copy Scaling" helps a lot though you may still need a magnet or two as well

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/search.php?section_id=-1&query=copy+scale&sort=relevancy&use_age=no&older_age=&older_units=day&newer_age=&newer_units=day&username=