Bart, why don't we pull the saw through the cut on a SCMS instead of pushing it through?
Both a RAS and a miter saw have the blade rotate down in the front, so one of the dangers of a RAS was the climb cut as you pulled the blade forward... if you weren't careful, the saw would rush through the wood at you. Special blades had the teeth at an angle to minimize that problem.
It is considered dangerous to pull a RAS out and then feed the board behind the blade, especially if you were nice to your motor and didn't start and stop it constantly. The miter saws fixed the problem by being designed to cut the other direction.
A Sears RAS was my only saw for about 30 years, used for rip as well as cross cut, regular cuts and dados. Once in position it could be locked/tightened in place securely, but setting it by the angle gauge was a joke. Towards the end, I only used it for 90 degree crosscuts. Many of the Sears saws were recalled, which basically required that you send the motor back and discard the rest, for which they paid $100. I kept mine for quite a few years after the recall was announced, then collected my $100 and recovered the shop space it took. I have an exceptionally good table saw, but if I felt the need for a separate saw for cross cuts, I would get a miter saw good enough to believe the angle settings, to 1/10 degree. I would choose not to get a sliding miter saw, to reduce the complexity and cost - I would do wide cross cuts on the table saw. (I keep a Skil saw around for rough cut-offs, then do the final cuts on my table saw.)
Bart, something to keep in mind, most 10 inch and smaller blades have a 5/8 inch arbor, while most 12 inch and larger blades have a 1 inch arbor. Therefore most (not all) saws that take a 12 inch blade, cannot readily use a 10 inch blade without it being bored out (there are adapter rings to easily use a 1 inch arbor blade on a 5/8 in arbor, but the opposite isn't easy.)