If you want to use props in one scene in another, save the scene as a scene subset and only check the props you want to use. The thumbnail will show the whole scene, but when you load it, only the props you selected will load. That's the fastest way to do it. The props will appear in the new scene in the same locations you had them in the first one, and will have to be moved if those are not the right places.

Lighting depends on whether you are using IRAY or 3Delight as your rendering engine. I find IRAY scenes much easier to light myself. In any case, you need to know which you are using before you go look for tutorials because the lighting setups are completely different between the two.

Rendering times will again depend on whether you are using IRAY or 3Delight, and what you need to do to tweak them is different between the two.