What an incredible deal -- I love that Dugal did that. My first editorial shoots (12 years ago), for a free weekly in L.A. that no longer exists, paid $75 per shoot, and $250 for the cover (including all expenses); still the lowest fees I've ever heard of. It was a labor of love for all involved, and it got me access to great subjects and enabled me to build a portfolio. I limited myself to three rolls of B&W per shoot, processed them myself, chose an image, scanned it and sent it to the magazine. They let the photographers choose. (I'm under no illusions that they were doing us a favor, but the people who ran the art department were talented people with a terrible budget.)
A few years ago I bought a drum scanner from a fellow photographer here, and I still scan my own film. It's a 4-foot-long, 200-pound beast (Howtek 7500), but the results are tremendous. I know what I'm trying to get while I'm scanning, and I barely do any work in post to my film shots.
I've heard the M9 is different from other digitals. It just hasn't been a priority for me. My money mostly goes into marketing, testing, lighting, and fleshing out my H system (which has been a great system).