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"Pellet food" is usually a complete layer ration. "Scratch feed" is usually just grain or a mix of grains.
The complete layer ration is just that. Complete. Everything the bird needs in one package. The same feed can come pelleted, crumbled, or as a mash.
For the friend that feeds only scratch the "free range" part is vitally important. IF the birds have enough range and IF it is of good quality then it may well be that their birds can get by with just some supplementary scratch feed and still lay well. But those two IFs are very important. Not enough range, not enough quality (as in bugs, seeds, etc) and the birds are going to be malnourished which in turn means poor egg production and slow growth.
By feeding the complete ration the birds don't have to free range at all. They can live their whole lives in a cage which is how the commercial egg industry works.
Of course the complete ration is going to be more expensive than just scratch grains. It's costing me about $12 a bag for layer feed right now and only $7 for a bag of whole corn. Big difference in price, but also a big difference in nutrition. One is very incomplete and the other sufficient all by itself.
If you can provide your birds sufficient high quality range then you can get by with just feeding scratch grains just like grandma did. But even here in Florida range does not stay high quality the year around. In the winter time insects are scarce and not much is growing. In drought times there isn't much young, tender growth to be found. The birds that get only scratch grains are going to be hard put to get sufficient nutrition so they're going to slow or stop their laying and they're not going to grow much. Just like grandma's birds did.
The nutshell of all this is you can't get something for nothing. Some how, some way the birds have to get the proper nutrients when they need them to perform for you. They can't perform well on just scratch grains any more than you could trying to live on nothing but popcorn.
