You ignored this part of parent's response.

"The EU would have less of an influence than Westminster does"

For example. Did the UK require permission from the EU in order to hold the Brexit referendum?

Is your argument that there would be less dependence on Brussels than there is on Westminster? Because my argument is that “less dependence” is not what independence is.

I'm not particularly interested in debating what exactly independence means in the abstract. But to my untrained political eye, it seems that countries are free to choose political and economic unions and those unions tend to come with benefits and obligations.

Are members of the UN or WTO independent?

If a body consisting of representatives elected only by "Scottish citizens" can decide which unions to associate with, and which to leave, we'll have independence in my book.