Remember to position the distributor thus:
A meter will work fine. The scan tool only displays what the sensors and PCM are telling it. You can learn what the PCM is looking at before the PCM knows it by using a meter.
You can try to manually position the crank so that the CKP is triggered, then set the distributor so that the interruptor (half cup) is just starting to cover the CMP. As long as the crank sensor triggers a couple milliseconds before the CMP triggers the PCM will stupidly accept the position as "perfect" #1 firing position. It still times from the crank sensor, so the cam sensor isn't all that critical. It's very similar to the old Ford system in that regard. What sucks is when the distributor was factory assembled so that the rotor position is not optimally aligned with the terminals in the cap when the CMP interruptor signals the cam sensor. I've seen a couple of them so bad that it looked like Bosch made them.