The $45 price was from 2009, also, the company making the scales was in bankruptcy liquidation, so, stock was at fire sale prices. Still, I recommend searching around for deals, they can still happen. Dyson sells factory refurbished items on ebay for half price, or less, sometimes. So does Olympus.
On the topic of the ice cream, one suggestion: for flavor contrast and to retain texture of a nut mix-in, if you were going to add some nuts for crunch, I'd roast nuts then make a pistachio 'bark' with a good dark chocolate. I'd chill the bark, then break it up and mix in at the end. This way, there is flavor contrast plus texture, nuts will remain crunchier.
BTW, I don't have a great online source, but, pistachios are grown in Arizona. We get some really plump, large nuts at the supermarket here. An entrepreneur planted trees at the beginning of the Iranian embargo in the late 1970s. Of course, they are not in season at the moment.
