Since I will be bitten by this someday, here the september 2021 observation that [Wayback] By default, scp(1) now uses SFTP protocol.
The original scp/rcp protocol remains available via the -O flag.
It refers to the august 2021 announcement in the [Wayback] OpenSSH: Release Notes – OpenSSH 8.7/8.7p1 (2021-08-20) that scp supported SFTP (like the sftp tool) and that it would become default soon:
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 