If you can get the scanned objects as .JPG or .WMF or some other image format for which you have the appropriate .DLLs from the Office suite, then it is pretty easy to build forms with "unbound" image controls. On the form's FormCurrent event, you can fill in the imagename property of each control with the file specification of the scanned image files. I do this all the time with my digital vacation-photo collection.
Then the issue will be pretty simple if a bit tedious. Move/copy the image files to a given folder. Perhaps devise a naming scheme for either the folder or the files themselves. Enter the file names into your recordset fields. Leave the image controls statically unbound and just bind them dynamically.
You might have to build TWO forms - one with extra button controls that allow you to browse for the images to be used and another one that only calls up images when the appropriate fields are filled with image file names. I.e. a display-only form. But the point is, an image control's imagename property is how you do what you described. That way, the only thing actually in the database is the text of the file name, not the entire binary stream that is the image file.
You have a couple of options to play with for image properties. I think there is a tile option, which you don't want. You can choose to crop or expand the image. Crop in that context means if the image is too large, it gets cropped but is displayed at its "natural" size. If it is too small, you will see a background around the image inside the control. Expand in that context could also mean "shrink" - basically, stretch or squeeze the image to fit the control. When you do this, watch out for image anomalies if the aspect ratio of the control and of the image don't match. Hint: Make them match.
