When my car was running mid 11s on motor and mid 10s on nitrous, I had a tall 6 pack scoop on it that was sealed to the carb. I had that combo well sorted out and played around a lot w/ the carb air pan and jetting. Sealing the carb to the scoop dropped a tenth and gained a little over 1 mph vs. not sealed.

I switched to the 5" tall cowl that's currently on my car and did NOT have it sealed to the carb. It ran the same as the six pack hood sealed to the carb.
Now if you have a big pro stock style scoop, or something very tall, then I'm sure it'll work better than a cowl.

I have done the aero test where you tape strips of thread/yarn around the back of the scoop while going down the track. There is definitely air getting pulled into the cowl scoop. A lot of people will try to tell you they just vent air from under the hood...not true.

The rear of the cowl scoop needs to be close to the windshield. I can just barely get my hand b/t the back of my hood and the windshield. If there is a big gap there, it will not pull in air.