[jon6]

I vaguely remember using this knowledge of the scales to "cheat" on the violin. If you move your hand into whatever position puts your first finger on the first note in the scale then you can always move the rest of the fingers in exactly the same manner - whole whole half, whole whole whole half. My music theory knowledge is crumbling but what I mean is if you move into 2nd position on the A string to play a B scale its much easier than starting in 1st position with the 2nd finger.

I did this at a competition once when given some insane scales (like 3 flats in the clef) without having ever practiced the scale itself and got it right.