The built-in Image Capture program does a good job of capturing images, but it doesn't seem to have any way of directly printing scanned items without hitting the Print button.
To automatically print your scanned items, set up an Automator workflow with two steps:
- Finder -- Get Specified Finder Items
- Finder -- Print Finder Items
Save the workflow as
print-files.app, and then set this app as the Automatic Task (choose Other on the pop-up menu) in Image Capture's scan dialog. Now you can set up the scan mode, etc., and every time you click Scan, the results will be sent directly to your default printer.
[
robg adds: This older hint contains another automatic printing solution -- create a desktop printer and point to that desktop printer with the Automatic Task pop-up menu.]