I also believe this as well. The first time I ever used a call, I had a nice 8 pointer come in about 45 minutes after I sat down. I thought, wow this thing is awesome. However, once he got into the field I tried to call him closer and he just ignored it. Since then, I have never had another deer come out to the call, which makes me think he was just coming to the field anyway. I quit using it and have killed more deer. I'm not say that it turns deer away, but it certainly doesn't seem to bring them in.
As for the scents I agree on that as well. I've only used things like Tinks a few times, but I've never had a deer come to them when I have used them.
I also don't think that hiding your scent matters that much at all. I originally bought scent free laundry detergent, scent free soap, shampoo, etc. I killed a few deer while using it, but when I haven't used it I've killed just as many. With one of the larger deer I've killed, I had taken a shower a few hours prior with Axe shower gel, and I just decided to sit in the stand over my lunch and see if I happened to see anything.
The biggest deer I've killed, and one of the biggest ones in the area, I killed after cutting several pieces of plyboard and putting them up in a shed. I didn't have time to change before going to the stand. I smelled like sweat, pine dust, and everything else. The guys I were hunting with told me I'd never see anything smelling like that. I decided to give it a try anyway. Turns out I killed the largest buck I've ever seen that evening.
The way I look at this stuff is it certainly doesn't hurt, but I don't think it matters either. I've quit using the majority of it, and I've killed just as many deer and I've never had one bust me.
A friend I hunt with fairly often has shot lots of large deer in the past couple of years and he also has come to the opinion that this scent free stuff is just a marketing gimmick. Like me, he always used it for everything. He killed a few deer like that, but then decided to quit using it and see how it worked. He has killed just as many deer and just as big of deer as well. He has now quit using all of it, and just goes out into the woods smelling however he smells. He has yet to see a difference and has gotten pretty much the same results as I have.
Surprisingly, he has also killed several while he has been talking on the phone. He tells me that he chats on the phone in the stand, and as long as he doesn't talk loudly, the deer still seem to come in. I don't know that I quite believe that, but I do believe the scent part as I've experienced the same results.