If in “from scratch” you include custom models, then there are vast benefits mostly to do with including domain knowledge or with tackling a problem with more m

If in “from scratch” you include custom models, then there are vast benefits mostly to do with including domain knowledge or with tackling a problem with more mechanical sympathy. Here is an example from first principles: https://emiruz.com/post/2023-10-15-logical-data-analysis/ https://emiruz.com/post/2023-10-15-logical-data-analysis/ It is a new perspective on an old dataset, made possible through a logico-symbolic analysis which includes some domain knowledge. Other broad categories of examples would be MIP programs, and differentiable programs, which are less common then they should be. More generally — and I say this as an experienced data scientist —- practitioners of our sport —- in my opinion —-often lack research expertise, and will more typically reason from tools to problems rather than from problems to tools. If the latter was more often the case, I think that custom models would be more common.