SSH is great for scripting file transfers between two trusted hosts when you're using SSH keys. If you are using SSH keys to automate SSH commands you will want to make sure your SSH commands are using BatchMode. With BatchMode enabled, the SSH connection will fail immediately if the key is rejected, instead of failing back to a password prompt. This will prevent your scripts from "hanging" while it waits for you to type a password.

ssh -o BatchMode=true user@domain.com
scp -q -o BatchMode=true user@domain.com:/tmp/