“England, Scotland and NI ARE countries even though they are part of the UK.”
They are no different than American states; our states signed an agreement to unite as a “United States of America”. I’m sure we’ll never see eye to eye on this.
(What kind of “country” is Northern Ireland? They didn’t even have the historical independence Scotland had centuries ago. That’s even harder to swallow than modern Scotland.)
Perhaps you should gracefully admit that Scottish/British posters here know more about their country than an American like yourself.