Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets and set aside.
In a small bowl, using your fingertips, rub lemon zest and sugar together until fully combined and fragrant.
In a large bowl, combine flour, all of your lemon sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add the grated butter and cut with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture looks coarse (you should still see pieces of butter/flour "balls" about the size of chickpeas).
Make a well in the middle and add buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and lightly knead into a ¾ inch thick rectangle (see notes). Cut out using a 2 to 3-inch cookie cutter and place on your prepared baking pans. Space them out evenly, about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. In the meantime, prepare your glaze.
For the Optional Lemon Glaze:
Whisk confectioner's sugar and lemon juice until your mixture becomes pasty. Add more sugar or juice to achieve desired consistency.
Drizzle on warm scones and serve.
Notes
To make grating butter easier, put the butter in the freezer at least an hour before you plan to grate it. I use a cheese grater. Once you've grated all the butter, put it back in the freezer until ready to use. Of course, you can also opt to just use chilled and cubed butter.
You also have the option to divide your dough into two ¾ inch thick, 6-diameter rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges.