Which surgery you have will depend a lot on what they find with the scope. The meniscus of the knee does not receive great blood flow and therefore doesn't always heal incredibly well, especially the innermost portions of the meniscus. Obviously the longer you have more meniscus the more decreased chance of arthritic changes that Dirty spoke about above, bone on bone is an ugly thing, i've seen what peoples knees without menisci look like, and it's not pretty. The rehab for a repair does take longer and the post-surgical precautions are greater, however if everything goes as it should and you listen to your doctors and PT you should have a happy knee for many years to come. Removal and the "recovery" is less significant, but the chance that you get arthritis sooner and more significant becomes greater. Keep in mind via the scope your doctor/surgeon will best be able to determine what that can do for you, and sometimes there is no saving what's been torn, unfortunately. Best of luck.