What you mean when I go to Transform > Scale, I hold down shift then I resize the image? And what did you mean by, steer away from so much brush work. Stock up on resources and dip into the c4d and fractal realm?
Ok, you know when you place an image and you have the option to stretch it or make it smaller by dragging the corners? At that point, hold the shift button while you do so.
Your entire background is brushes. Instead, download a few gfx resource backs and build youself a nice resource fold. Go to various gfx sites and search for resource packs. Look for c4d's, stocks, textures, fractals and anything the have available. You can never have enough materials to make a sig.:y
By dip into that realm I was referring to you branching out and experimenting with placement a effects on your newly acquired resources.
View the stickied thread in this section if you don't understand by terminology.