sI work in clays and wax by hand, and still haven't 3d scanned anything yet, however, I''ve been looking for something similar that what you propose.
3D scanning hasn't caught up the same speed as consumer 3d printing, and still is very expensive. There isn't a scanner that does every scale and solves every problem, so you really want to know your application througout, beforehand. If it's for institutional work in your university, sometimes renting equipment or contacting a private party that does scanning solves the problem.
For individuals, without industry $$ backing, the way to go about a year ago was the david scanner kit (SL2 or SL3). It's a structured light based scanner, modular scanner solution: software + hardware (DLP projector and camera) that sells as a bundle, but you could also buy the parts separately.
It costs 3k/4k USD, depending on where you get it. Resolution wise, is better than hobby laser scanning systems and I believe it's about hundreds of microns or tenth of microns accuracy level (gotta check the specs chart). Enough to capture fingerprints.
Below is a link to user gallery images.
http://www.david-3d.com/en/news&community/usergallery
It works well for small scale items, still objets. They got a forum of their own in the link.
The resolution of the off the shelf kit is good enough to do 1:1 scanning of busts, 1:3 statues and some people even got tinier. Probably buying a better projector and camera, and some serious calibration knowledge will be necessary for miniatures or anything as a coin size for example. Upgradability is a great plus of this system, although at the moment the hurdle is that every time you scan something the system must be calibrated, and it's better used alongside a rotating table. More expensive solutions come precalibrated, but you cannot upgrade any component, and instead ought to buy another scanner altogether.
Other comparable scanner in quality at the moment of writing this (jan 2016) of similar quality sell for tens of thousand of dollars and up. The HDI blue light scanner from 3d3 solutions is about 15k USD.
What I looked up, applies for 1:6 scale modelling of still objects. Moving, living subjects, or bigger things may need different equipment.