  We aim to characterize a diverse selection of dense, potentially star-forming
cores, clumps, and clouds within the Milky Way in terms of their dust emission
and SF activity. We studied 53 fields that have been observed in the JCMT
SCUBA-2 continuum survey SCOPE and have been mapped with Herschel. We estimated
dust properties by fitting Herschel observations with modified blackbody
functions, studied the relationship between dust temperature and dust opacity
spectral index $\beta$, and estimated column densities. We extracted clumps
from the SCUBA-2 850 $\mu$m maps with the FellWalker algorithm and examined
their masses and sizes. Clumps are associated with young stellar objects found
in several catalogs. We estimated the gravitational stability of the clumps
with virial analysis. The clumps are categorized as unbound starless,
prestellar, or protostellar. We find 529 dense clumps, typically with high
column densities from (0.3-4.8)$\times 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$, with a mean of
(1.5$\pm$0.04)$\times10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$, low temperatures ($T\sim $10-20 K),
and estimated submillimeter $\beta$ =1.7$\pm$0.1. We detect a slight increase
in opacity spectral index toward millimeter wavelengths. Masses of the sources
range from 0.04 $M_\odot$ to 4259 $M_\odot$. Mass, linear size, and temperature
are correlated with distance. Furthermore, the estimated gravitational
stability is dependent on distance, and more distant clumps appear more
virially bound. Finally, we present a catalog of properties of the clumps.Our
sources present a large array of SF regions, from high-latitude, nearby diffuse
clouds to large SF complexes near the Galactic center. Analysis of these
regions will continue with the addition of molecular line data, which will
allow us to study the densest regions of the clumps in more detail.
