Does touch up paint actually work or is it just to stop rust?

[brettcallahan]

Got a deep scratch on my bonnet that's through to the primer and I've been told two different things, one person says touch up paint will fix it, another says it'll look terrible and I should just get it painted properly. I'm not expecting invisible results, I mainly want to stop it getting worse and avoid rust. I read https://exoticcarcare.ae/how-to-remove-deep-scratches-from-a-car/ to understand what touch up paint can realistically achieve, and it seems like it's more about protection than appearance for deeper scratches, which matches what I suspected. So maybe I should use it as a stopgap until I can afford a proper repair. Has anyone used touch up paint on a deep scratch and been okay with the result, or did it look so bad you wished you'd left it?