Surely not scolding lets a dog get away with things you don't want them to?

Scolding is a more complex topic than 'do' or 'don't'. Modern dog training tunes in to dog psychology and their motivation. We know attention — any attention — is a potent reward for dogs. When an action is repeated, the dog is more likely to repeat it, hence the advice not to scold. The other point is scolding is a flawed deterrent. Say you hit your dog when it dug in the flower bed. The dog associates the punishment with your presence, so stays away when you're around but goes in freely when you're not there. At the very least, you need to use remote punishment so the dog regards it as an "Act of God" that is linked to the location and not a person.