Take a look at full-duplex multifunctional printers, many times they are cheaper than standalone scanners. Just as an example, a black and white laser like the Brother MFC-L2820DW should last you a long time.
Well, at least it'd be "good enough" to get your feet wet, so to speak - and also give you the ability to test if you're going to stick to it.
I got a Brother ADS-4300N to use with p-ngx, works very well and also is way faster than the usual document scanners on MF printers (duplex is done in one pass, for example)...
set up was straightforward and the functionality is great