I'm not much use when it comes to spells, but if you were scrying wouldn't a long range help you to cast a offensive spell into an area.
For the range with bows it seems more beneficial to hit targets in the air from a fair distance away. Wouldn't you calculate the area away based on the square they were in the air. For example a creature that is 300 feet away and 700 feet in the air. A rather large dragon wouldn't be to hard to spot against the sky, well depending on the colour.
