Absolutely. I am definitely not suggesting you can safely apply RD versus EA everywhere. If you are looking at a popular major with capped first-year admissions, you very likely should apply ED, EA, or early in a rolling period (whatever is available).
Merit scholarships are tricky for the reason you gave. Theoretically, you might think it would go something like EA > RD > ED (since why give a merit offer to someone who is bound anyway?). But some colleges will say it doesn’t matter. Other colleges will say your best chances of merit are if you apply early, and they might even have an official early merit deadline. Possibly historic information will help indicate what is going on. But transparency and merit do not often go hand in hand.