I have 9 babies, and none have had a drop of water sprayed at them. Scratching is natural, just give them something they like to scratch, mine LOVE the turboscratcher, with a little catnip sprinkled on it. When they use it, I praise praise praise, when they scratch something else, a sharp NO to stop them, then take them to the Turbo and praise praise praise..This has worked as well with getting up in counter tops, and dining room tables. I just set them down on the floor and let them know that "Good Kitties" stay down. Cats LOVE to please their humans, and nothing works better than gentle love and understanding, and POSTIVE reinforcment...
I think that anything negative just makes a bad behavior worse....