I’m wondering if UE4 already has a tool built in that could help scatter models throughout a scene. One way I’ve seen before was using a brush that “paints” the models randomly wherever you pass it over. it would also randomly rotate and scale the meshes as it created them.
I’m trying to create a wooded level, and am looking for an easier way to populate it that doesn’t include laying out every single model.
The Foliage Tool is what you are looking for 
Also, if there’s some models that you don’t want to place with the foliage tool, you can do a physics simulation and save the positions, nice for rocks, logs, bricks, etc. You can also combine clusters of those static meshes together if you want to make a pile of bricks and trash for example.
Or you can do some crazy procedural generation with blueprints.