I do lots of outdoor scanning of large areas.
I use FARO S350 and X330 scanners, sometimes both at the same time to save time.
First I run control thru the site with my total station survey instrument and set a few, maybe 3 to 10 checkered targets around the site depending on the size of the site and shoot reflectorless control points on each such target. They will be used in my registration as georeferenced points. Depending on the job these points are also tied into NAVD88 elevation datum and tied into the legal boundary monuments to tie the survey into the boundary lines of the site.
Then I start using the scanner(s) and 200mm spheres. I set 4 of them in my direction of my scanning travel and using 1/4 density and Quality 2x. I can set them out 100' or so which gives me 200' distance in my scanning stations. I use a very tall tripod to get a good downward laser shots into the ground. This is very important as if the angle the laser beam hits the ground is too flat no measurement will be recorded.
This setting scans 360° in 2' 40" in gray scale.
I have 12 200mm spheres and different sized checkered targets. I even have some checkered targets I made at 2'x3' and had them printed by FEDEX on PVC boards. I can hit them at well over 500' which is a good anchor for making sure there is no drift in my data.
I added a roof top carrier to carry all these spheres which I keep in padded envelopes and in large padded travel bags with handles for caring them around the site. I use short camera type tripods with flexible legs so they can be attached to fences, tree limbs or magnetically stuck on steel items such as fence or sign posts or on top of parked cars too.
I use 4 spheres in the direction(s) I want to travel in case one does not read well as I have a backup sphere to use for registration. Sometimes a car will pass between my scanner and a sphere at just the wrong time....
I use pretty much the same pattern for laying out my spheres which has not been a problem for me. They should be varied in height and distance and form good strong triangles from the scanner and never be in a straight line.
Your next effort after scanning and registration will be to find the bare earth surface. This is where LiDAR is so much better than drone photographic methods as laser beams can get in between the vegetation down to the earth surface where photographic pixels need much more space to see the dirt. You can either pick hundreds of points where you can see the dirt of get a good program like 3DReshaper that can do that automatically and very accurately. Then 3D contour that surface.
Here's a couple of short videos of large outdoor sites I have scanned and made accurate surface models, topographical survey grade maps.
Watch 9 Hole Golf course fly by, thru and under on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/337333317
Watch Creek area along the path on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/271755744
Just so you know: If you are scanning and mapping (3D model) any land, road or any public improvement in California you must be a licensed land surveyor to do so.
There is an exemption for a landscape architect to make a contour map for landscaping purposes only. I'm not sure which state you are in but you may want to check the laws there regarding what is land surveying and what a non land surveyor may do legally.
Civil Engineers can also make topo maps too but they may not establish where lot lines are as lot line establishing (showing on a map relative to any improvements or contours) may only be done by a licensed land surveyor in CA.
This is true for Accident Reconstruction Experts as well. Since scanner came affordable some people are scanning things illegally in California. They may find this out the hard way when there data is not admissible in court, having collected the data illegally.
I hope this was helpful.