I don't entirely like the idea of mult-faction ships, as one of the things I really like about X-wing is the asymmetry between the factions. Multi faction ships don't work well in maintaining that asymmetry, it's something I hop FFG keeps to a minimum. While there are means to make the ships distinct with faction specific upgrades and pilots, the generic, vanilla ships would be same across the board.
I understand why multi faction ships have been done for S&V for both fluff reasons and technical reasons (it's a fast, easy way to bulk out the new faction) and I appreciate that FFG have gone to pains to try and make the ships behave differently in S&V than their Rebel and Imperial counterparts.
I don't entirely like it but I'll just have to suck it up in this case, hopefully it's a once off boost to S&V with more distinct ships to follow. Besides, I do like the Scum interceptor, so not all gloom and doom
In terms of justifying the ship in the game, does it really matter? Let's face it, if FFG want the ship in the game, they'll find a reason. If they don't want it, they won't have to explain why its not there.
As for where the ARC would sit in the factions, think about flying an Imperial ARC with R2-D2, what's a reasonable way to prevent that while keeping the ARC depiction correct for the game. Particularly if the astromechs are part of what makes the Rebel faction distinct, an assumption based on the fact that S&V have only agromechs. Consider balancing it with Rebel X-wings, Y-wings and B-wings while still keeping it distinct enough from those ships that the each still have a role in a Rebel line up.
