I snapped off a few quick 'n dirty shots of my tree, for the sake of showing off, mainly.

Here is a link that might be useful: My photoalbum

If you take your tree outside, on a mild day, use a garden hose with moderate pressure and adjustable nozzle. Lay the tree on it's side and spray/dislodge the scale (and other insects) with a diffused/softened stream of water to each (supported) leaf. Shoot or blow the water stream (and insects) away from the plant. Rotate the plant till you've accessed all of the foliage. Many insects favor the under side of the leaf for feeding and cover. Simply spraying or "showering" from the top misses many critters. With care you can cleanse the plant and remove a lot of insects and dirt. No doubt, you'll loose some leaves, blossoms and a little soil from the pot but with care and practice you'll be amazed at how easy it is to do and how effective it is. When finished...lightly shake the plant to remove the excess water and loose leaves, then let the remaining water evaporate. Don't leave it in the hot sun to dry unless it's used to being in full sun. The plants really enjoy a nice bath. Caution: avoid really cold or hot water.

legray,
Welcome!!!
I also have a cat.. errr rater my dear hubby has a BRAT.. hehehe.. any way.. to keep her out of my plants... Prevent her from using plants as personal potty chair.... even though her box gets cleaned once daily... I have placed pine cones from long leaf pines, they are rather large pine cones in the pots with my plants that have much soil bare.... also.. when spraying any of my plants with any kind of "pesticide" chemicals what ever.. I take them in to the bath room and stick them in the shower.. spray down and let them sit there till they are dry.. then carry them back to their home and I can easily shower away any residue left in the shower. and I leave the bath room door shut while the plants are in the shower.. I also give all my plants a shower shower once every other month or so.. this works so long as plants are small enough to carry..
I'm envious of all your flowers!!!
Hope these ideas help..
Good luck..
Gina *BabyBlue*

Those are two great suggestions. I 'll have to invest in a proper nozzle for our existing hose -- at the moment, it's just open ended, in order to do the first. Unfortunately, seeing as how it's fall time in Alaska, the water always comes out icey cold. I'd hop right on that if it were summer or even early Fall, but jetting such cold water all over my tree makes me nervous.

So that leaves me the second good suggestion, which should see me through until I get warmer weather (I hope).

Flowers:
Yes! I love those flowers. They're finally starting to lose fragrence and fall off, but my bedroom has been filled with their smell now for two weeks. Is that a normal bloom time for them? I read on this forum that it's typical for them to do that when they've undergone trauma, and that I'm likely to expect a bunch of new leaves. The lady I purchased the tree from, said she hacked back almost 60% of the branches right at the beginning of summer.

Leg, since you can't use the hose now, set the tree in the shower, adjust nozzle, and spray away..Try not to aim at soil.
After plant dries, inspect for scale.
W/cotton balls, and rubbing alcohol, rub away remaining bugs. Toni

I thought of doing that, too, but I got nervy about the flowers. I know, I know, the health of the tree is more important than a big fat handful of ornamental blooms, but wow, what a handful.

Now that the flowers are starting to fade, anway, I'll try that before I try chemical pesticides.

Leg, yep, the flowers will soon fall anyway...the thing you want to look for are fruit under the flowers..
But, think of it this way..what's more important, losing flowers or bugs eating away at your plant?
I'm surprised at the number of flowers your tree has..I'm impressed..but Meyer's bloom throughout the year if given sufficient light, Leg...so it's important ridding the bugs..
I know how you feel..I have birds and refuse using anything I deem harmful..even when my cat was here, (he passed away at 17 yrs last summer) though he never bothered my plants, I wouldn't take the chance of using strong chemicals..Safer or NOT..Toni

Uh. >I've removed a lot of it, but there are 'strays' all over the place. Hours worth of squatting near the shower, blowing smaller ones off, hours worth of twisting it round and round and round with a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol. I'm actually a little sore now.

It's only been a week or so since the first massive de-scaling, and it's already put out two new leaf sets -- out of pure gratitude, I'm sure.

There *is* one spot in the tree that's a little grubbier than the rest, but it's covered in juvies, scale that isn't brown yet. I've been dabbing and rubbing at it for at least an hour now, but can't seem to get 'em off. Should I remain diligent, or is it better to prune those knottier parts off? I'm hesitant to do so... it's on the non-bald side.

All the blooms are gone, but it's formed and put out four lonely little blossoms since then. I think that the scale really shocked it, I bet you that once I put my tree indoors, a minor scale problem turned into a major one.

Once I find scale on my trees I look at them at least 2 times a week, I use a magnifying glass (some also call them "Finders")
I write down how many I squeeze each time

Back to "blasting them off". I made a suggetion about using a garden hose and spray nozzle. You really need to get to the under side of the leaves and on to the stems! I cautioned you and you voiced concerns about using cold water, out of the hose bib. The hardware store or waterbed store sells an insert that screws into your kitchen sink faucet that (should) allow you to attach a hose there and "mix" the hot and cold to produce a plesant water temperature. I sure like the hose method and find it an easy, fast, safe way to get rid of scale and other critters.

Leg, scale are pains in the behind..still, I'd rather deal w/them than mealy bug.
Since you can't use the hose, I'd keep up using the shower.
When you last showered your tree, did you find any scale on the floor? I'm curious if water will actually knock them off.
One other thing, I know it's work ridding them, but be seated, set your tree in front of you, turn on the tv or radio, and start plucking. LOL..Set a piece of paper towel nearest you away fro tree and set scales on paper. Continue doing this daily/nightly.
One other thing..I make my own brews for certain insects, though I don't have one for scale.
One thing you can do is, using a mister, add Cayenne Pepper and ground citrus rind. Shake..Then spray away..If anything this will keep kitty's away..It will not harm them and might keep bugs at bay.
It's ironic because I came up w/this concoction a few yrs ago..then while browsing through a plant catalog, I saw an ad for hot pepper insecticide..they've one for bugs and another for wildlife. Then about 2 months ago, I saw another organic fertilizer that contained citrus rind. LOL. If only I had marketed this idea when I first thought about it, I might now be loaded..Not drunk mind you, rich..lol..
One other thing you can try is spraying tree w/Fish Emuslion..Since it's an organic fertilizer it won't harm your cats. I was told to do this by a woman who owns a citrus nursery..they spray the leaves/stems..it not only works as an insecticide but a foliar feeding, too.
In fact, when I spray my trees, I'm going to add the fish emulsion, citrus rind, garlic, Listerine, 2 drops dish soap, and cayenne pepper. My brew will hopefully keep bugs at bay..spray the tree well, and voila, instant bug killer. Good luck, Toni

Last winter,my cat decided my indoor plants were auxilliary litter boxes. bad kitty! I bought a bag of smooth river rocks and piled them on top of the soil in the floor containers. That has kept her out ever since! I also clean her litter box every single day. If I ever skip a day, she lets me know her displeasure by using the throw rug in my kitchen. But at least the plants are clean.

Nn, I'm lucky my cats don't do that, they're more the "oh! salad!" type.