You can just pipe xz instead, although you may want to shred the original file:

  xz < file | scrypt enc - > file.xz.enc

And I agree: scrypt (the program) is much better for password encrypting documents. It is only a few thousand lines of readable code; it uses modern algorithm choices (scrypt, AES256-CTR, HMAC-SHA256), with no alternatives; there isn't any configuration involved; and it's written by a respected author.

shred is ineffective if you're using a CoW FS, and probably less effective on a journaling FS, and those probably covers 99% of all the FS people use today. Just use FDE.