The scissors part was odd - but it seems they switched to matal fatigue, which is entirely believable.
Still other artifacts, from earlier cultures like the Hopewell, had symmetrical holes cut in the copper and could not have been made by bending the metal back and forth. One that comes to mind is a serpent's head knife or spear point. I do recall seeing "rivetted" peices- overlaped plates wth flared copper pins through them that looked like repair jobs.
I think the reporter just grazed the fringes and didn't dwell much on detail.
There's a pretty good coffee table book called "Hero, Hawk and Open Hand" which has photos of some really remarkable artifacts from American prehistory.
More likely they used a hooked chert flake left over from making knives or hoes... odd that the folks doing the study didn’t bother to test cut with one of the most common items- next to potsherds - that can be found there- and tried scissors, which most certainly cannot be found there. When you knock off flakes from a chert core you get simple supersharp disposable blades. Some make great arrowheads, others are perfect tools as is, and a few have a little hook in them which work great for cutting skin on a fresh deer ... or thin sheets of copper.