Help me understand why Inkscape is still needed

[jancy]

you can design or trace anything you want to in inkscape.

you can trace images, logos or make your own & trace them; then open in SCAL & cut. I don't think you can do that in SCAL.

[susibi]

As Jancy says Inkscape allows you to design and draw your own shapes etc, weld them and make .svg files which SCAL will import and cut for you.Inkscape is a full blown graphics program whereas SCAL is a program which allows you to do basic manipulation of fonts and shapes so you can cut them on your Cricut.
It depends what you want to do - if you are happy using fonts and dingbats that are available then you don't need to worry about Inkscape.
HTH
Susibi