The simple answer is “yes” scale matters in all pipeline development tools besides Unreal 4.
All things created digitally these days makes use of physics based algorithms and is based on the “local” transform of the object that needs to be effected by modelled physics solution such as lighting, materials, or world physics behaviour.
As an example, as in what I do know, using an application like 3ds Max the local transform as to scale is only known upon creation as a parametric object so once converted to a poly object the scale value converts to world space.
World space scaling is also known as relative scaling as the object is scaled “relative” to other objects around it. The important value stored in the local transform does not change as to the relative scaling of the object and would snap to the origin scale once imported into Unreal 4 unless the Xform of the object resets the local scale to equal the wolds scale.
So yes messing around with scaling will drive you crazy at some point if it’s not set to be correct as to purpose of use. There is for example a few asset in the market place who’s scale is not correct as to use and takes a lot of effort to correct.