Only thing that goes in my pocket with the phone is.... nothing. 4 year into an S20+ and the screen has no visible scratches. If one puts metal objects in the pocket with the phone of course it's going to get scratched.
Not sure how the S24 is less bright unless you didn't adjust the brightness slider. Max brightness on the S22 is only 1750, S24 is 2600. On maximum brightness mine is painful to look at indoors.