Help!! scale insect discovered at harvest time!

Hey There folks. Well a couple weeks ago I notice my beautiful lush green hops with lots of cones started to look not so good. Browning leaves and rusty looks. I was busy and just thought the plant was putting all its energy into the cones and leaves were just going to be fine. Well, now I think its too late..

Upon close inspection I notice all 8 of my plants had very small block dots and some white dots on underside of leaves. Most of these dots near leave veins. A little research uncovered it might be scale insects?

Can anyone please verify if this is scale or another insect? I also heard these insects secrete a substance called honeydew that promotes black sooty mold. I unfortunately now see a couple of my plants have a little dark mold on the tops of the cones which might be a result of this.

As for harvest. I am located in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan so I feel my hops have a little time yet, maybe 1 week before harvest. Some portions of the cones look ready but I can probably wait just a bit yet. They are not quite papery feeling yet or any brown starting at cone tips. I would guess variety pending, bout a week to harvest. Now I wonder, can I even harvest the cones?? Some look ok, with no insects so far present in the cones I picked, scale/whatever it is all appears just on the big leaves. I am concerned about some mold but not all cones have it. Maybe I can selectively harvest?

I made a decison to trim off nearly all the bigger leaves since they appear to really be doing the plant no good (not providing nutrients to plant as leave is dying and it has the insects) sooooo, I got some neem oil and sprayed the crap out of my plants after the trimming poor leaves in hopes of salvaging the cones and plants. the neem oil says I can use it up to one day prior to harvest but I dont like the thought of that. so, I think I will spray neem oil everyday and 3 days or so before harvest stop and rinse the plants very well with water. Does this sound like an idea to salvage some cones?

Any help in identifying the insects and what to do about harvesting would be great.
Here are some pics:

That looks a bit like mites to me. Do you see any webbing around those larger leaves?

Soap sprays usually work pretty well against mites.

Frankly, I think it's about time to pick.

My hops had this and that chewing on them. Japanese Beetles, probably mites, etc. Found Earwigs, spiders, and ladybug larvae when picking hops.

Anyone? anyone else have any input..? Hoping to harvest next couple days but worried about some of the black sooty mold on some hops? anyone ever deal with that? It is likely a result of the honeydew coming from whatever insect this is. Some plants with more leaf coverage have more mold, but side arm out in the open look ok. They are not terribly moldy, looks like mainly the tops of the cones and maybe a trimming process could occur? any input on these pests and more general advice appreciated. Thanks

White things look like aphids. They make a honey dew I believe. I used ladybugs to clear that up once. Worked great.

The only guarantee in gardening is that you are going to get bugs.

Look like aphid babies to me.

Harvest the hops. The bugs will bug out during dry time. Spray the plant with a soap water solution after harvest.