My understanding is that my 1st generation Scout (like my MK1 Octavia 4x4) should have EDL that brakes a wheel if it starts to spin. Today stuck in a snow drift I had the car in gear idling with front left and rear right wheels turning while front right and rear left doing nothing! Same in both forward and reverse. This doesn't seem right to me and I'm sure my old MK1 4x4 didn't do that.

Ok I'm answering my own question, from reading the "What a Scout will not do" post and the linked videos it seems VAG's haldex based 4x4 with EDL will not prevent diagonal wheels spinning. Shame because the system can be made to work as I've seen a demo video of a Porsche Cayanne with wheels off the ground but still sending power where its needed.

Porsche and Toureg have a permanent 4x4 system with a viscous centre differential so more like the traditional four wheel drive systems.

My understanding is that my 1st generation Scout (like my MK1 Octavia 4x4) should have EDL that brakes a wheel if it starts to spin. Today stuck in a snow drift I had the car in gear idling with front left and rear right wheels turning while front right and rear left doing nothing! Same in both forward and reverse. This doesn't seem right to me and I'm sure my old MK1 4x4 didn't do that.

I would have expected the front right wheel to have turned due to EDL, which only works on the front axle by the way. Are you sure you didn't have ESP turned off, because I think that would disable EDL...

Yes def had esp switched on, I did also try it off as the handbook suggests that (for some strange reason) in snow. I had plenty of time to look as the car was idling, I was tempted to get out and check both sides but I thought better of it