Scala provides a more concise and flexible syntax compared to Java. It includes pre-built libraries that make programming easier. Scala supports native XML processing and allows parsing real-world data. An example shows how a simple "Hello World" program requires less code and boilerplate in Scala versus Java due to features like not needing a main method or importing output streams. Scala also provides more functional capabilities than Java like mapping lists to extract subsets in a simpler way using functions like flatMap. Classes can also be extended from functions, showing Scala's flexibility in mixing object-oriented and functional paradigms.