I remember reading from the past that even when you remove the emblem on the grille, its still engraved onto the grille. Now the question, is it glued onto the grille or are there pins attached to it? Is it "better" to paint the scion emblem or just remove it with the bottom of it showing?

 

its held on with double sided tape, no pins but there are 2 things that pop out from the emblem so when you put it back one it will align correctly.

and painting it looks better, just taking it off looks like someone stole your emblem.

 

Be sure to heat the emblem up with a hair dryer before you try to pull it.
You might be able to clean thew glue off with 90% isopropyl alcohol after it is off.
As for painting, that might be a tough job.
The plastic chrome on the emblem will not want to accept the paint. roughing it up with really light sand paper might help,
but you will want to get ALL of the plastic chrome off before you paint and that will take forever if you don't want it to look scruffy.
Take your time.

 

Did you paint the emblem and reistall? If so, would love to see a picture.

 

FWIW -- those two "things" you mention are commonly referred to as alignment pins.

Sticker remover or Goof-Off or the like helps with the adhesive.

Is that actually a chrome or is it silver paint? Both front and back Scion badges are finished the same and they look like a dull silver paint to me.

 

Nope, I haven't done it yet. Been busy and it rains on the weekend...

 

easiest way you can go about it is. take off the grill mask around the emblem so you wont get overspray/paint on it. then on the inner part of the scion emblem where its harder to mask put some Vaseline. since its oil based paint wont dry on it. paint it let it dry and its dry to the touch wipe off the vaseline area