The creation of Scrap Yard knives serves to split off some demand from Swamp Rat, who until the change was trying to produce 2 lines of knives (micarta & ResC) The ever increasing demand was causing wait times to get ridiculous, and people complained. (the same thing happened with Busse Combat, and a similar protocol of releasing fewer models at a time to hold back wait times was created. Now there are less choices but you don’t have to wait. Now Scrap Yard has basically the same system in place as Swamp Rat. The reason there was a gap with no models available from Swamp Rat, was they were getting caught up with previous orders before releasing new models.
As far as Swamp Rat being “up market”, I have no idea what you mean. Their pricing has not drastically increased. If you mean the secondary market, realize that they have nothing to do with setting prices for resale. The supply games you mention simply do not exist. Busse changed the system and created a cool new company in order to get knives to people faster.

The only game they are playing is trying to match demand with production.
This demand has easily doubled since I discovered Swamp Rat. (as a result wait times did too) The big picture is that all three companies are a family affair, and they are doing a good job of not cutting corners to get knives made. If you are too impatient to wait “two weeks” now and then, you can go and buy some lesser knives and get them quickly.

Or you can go buy a Randall and wait 4 or more years. (the direction Busse & Swamp Rat were heading when they offered full lines of knives) I very much prefer the new system.