This is tough because they were fundamentally quite different, obviously, so the assessment boils down to how much weight is allocated to the myriad categories of passing. Beckham was quite possibly the greatest crosser of all time as well as one of the most deadly long passers of all time — but he was a relatively restricted specialist in that he couldn't mix things up like Scholes and didn't offer similar super-short passing precision, didn't have Scholes' quick feet in confined spaces at the heart of the pitch, didn't have the same awareness or press-resistance or ability to read things (which helps you in the build-up before making a pass), wasn't as good of a defensive passer with regard to circulating the ball as a retainer, couldn't set the tempo of the team in a frantic game (all relative to Scholes), etc. Both were extremely influential, needless to say, but Scholes was definitely superior as a multi-dimensional passer, and gave United exceptional control over proceedings...whereas Beckham provided better cutting-edge qualities at the peak of his powers and was obviously unbeatable in his area of specialization.