The difference between the two guitars is all a preference in playing style, what kind of tone you're looking for, who you're playing for.
When I practice with my electric (as I always do) I practice with both clean and distroted tones. On a clean tone I can hear if I'm fretting properly and if the notes I'm playing are coming out cleanly or not and at an even dynamic, especially if I'm practicing at higher speeds. On a distorted tone I can hear if I'm hitting any unwanted strings or leaving any other strings open and ringing producing a sloppy sound.
Even when practicing chords, although you won't hear the quality of the chord as much, with distortion you can hear if your hitting any unwanted strings.
What the instructors said about practicing on an acoustic still stands of course, if you can play your scales, chords, modes, inversions, WHATEVER, on your acoustic then I am completely confident you can do it EVEN BETTER on your electric.
Hope this helps :)