When I started I did a couple of months spending 20 minutes a day just writing out the scales and trying to memorize them. This did not help me much. I still can't recite most scales without counting steps in the back of my mind!
After getting used to Pentatonics, I found it easier to play scales. I still can't recite them without counting, but I see the Pentatonics as a visual pattern that I can just drop 2 particular steps back into for a full scale. For me this worked.
Maybe I'm just getting old and my mind is losing it's training, but rote memorization does not work so well for me any more. :p
...so ever since then, I always hang on to the buckle.