Scimitar: A scimitar is a sword with a curved blade.
Cutlass: A cutlass is a short, curved sword with a single sharp edge. Pirates favor cutlasses because the blade is sharp enough to cut through rigging (and enemy sailors) but is short enough to use in crowded shipboard melees.
Both weapons are one handed martial and have a the same stats.
Any GMs/DMs have any problems with it sharing Feats, the only reason not to is their name.
Your right, any GM should/would let this work.
Sadly if you play PFS it does not.
there are a few cutlass traits that we wanted to use with dervish dance....
But for any home game your right, its the same weapon.
You could, of course, use a "scimitar" but describe it as a cutlass regardless, just mechanically, on your sheet, it's "scimitar".
While many (not all, but many) cutlasses featured a basket hilt, to the best of knowledge no scimitar did. Now, I don't think Pathfinder has given any game statistics for a basket hilt (let me know if I am wrong), but it served to protect the hand of the wielder, although it also made it harder to draw. It also made a great punching weapon (in history) to hit someone with. So, for my game, that is the difference between the two: a scimitar lacks a basket hilt, whereas a cutlass has one and gets a +2 bonus on CMD versus disarm attempts. No bonus on attempting such moves, just a bonus to defend against them. I also let the character wielding a cutlass punch for lethal damage and give him a +1 bonus on damage if he punches an opponent with the basket hilt.
Master Arminas
Cutlass' are a a basically straight bladed weapon with a slight curve but effectively parallel front and back. Could be used for thrusting as well as Slashing.
Scimitars are traditionally triangle(ish) shaped blade designed only for slashing. They would be wielded far differently.
Given that, you could still re-skin one as the other as needed for feats, etc.
