Should I use Model Relationships vs Query Scopes and a simple mysql join?

You can make as many relationships as you want, meaning:

// on Organization
public function records()
{
    return $this->hasManyThrough(UserRecord::class, Member::class);
}

Furthermore you can use where clauses on the relationship itself to further filter your results. Don't be afraid to reuse Relationships combining them with where clauses etc. You can do whatever you need to do ;)

Thanks, @Borisu

Can hasMany only work if all hasMany?

I am hitting issues

where

org hasMany members but members belongsTo both org and user

No the hasMany on one model does not interfere with the hasMany on another. You could do this

// on Org
public function members()
{
    return $this->hasMany(Member::class);
}

// on Member
public function org()
{
    return $this->belongsTo(Org::class);
}

public function user()
{
    return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
}

But if you have a belongsTo relationship you need the user_id and org_id in your database table for members.

$org->with(['members' => function($query) {
    $query->select('primary_key, foreign_key, other column, other_column);
},'members.user' => function($query) {
    $query->select('primary_key, foreign_key, other column, other_column);
}]);

By this u can select what column u want, dont want to get unwanted data from table...

In addition to blishmar's post, you can specify which fields you want in the end model:

$org->get(['name', 'created_at']);

As you can see you can just pass an array of values to the get function and you'll filter the fields you want.