I would not try to get him a rifle but better to let him pick out what he wants. Your talking about two different areas of shooting and don't really seem to know which he'll lean to. If you are going to pick it out yourself I'd try to figure out which rifle might work in both places. For myself I'd get a bolt action, seems they are better prospect's for a long range project. Also probably should thing about a 24" barrel. Might be unhandy hunting in heavy cover but he can choose the cover he wants. The 24" barrel will give a bit more velocity indicating with the right bullet's more left at long range so flatter shooting. As far as brand goes, I'm very partial to Remington 700's but everybody isn't. Much as you are willing to spend though, I'd be looking for a Sako. For a scope, again, there a lot of good scope out there that work well but you don't need to spend $1000 to get one. Not knowing which way he will go, I'd suggest a decent 3-9x. When I got my 6.5x06 I envisioned shooting 500yds plus at target's. Even did it a few times! Got a 4 1/2x14 scope for it and the scope was huge! It was a Nikon and had a problem with the adjustment's so sent it back to Nikon. Well they quit selling scopes so gave me a credit for whatever else they sold. That would make me wonder about any new brand scopes again! Leupold has been around a long time and have a huge name in the scope world, I'd trust them. Bushnell also around a long time but I don't think the scopes measure up to Leupold. Number of other's fairly new compared to those two I might try but would try their top of the line first. I have a couple Vortex 2-7x and haven't got a bad thing to say about them. But for the long range stuff I'd still go 3-9x. Reason I say that is on my 6.5x06 the farthest I shot was 500 yds and the highest power I used was 8x! 8x showed up my 4" aiming point on the target really well. The Nikon had adjustable turrets and those extra lines in the reticule and turrets seemed to work well till it went down on me. My Vortex also has adjustable turrets and they also work well, really like them.
Cartridge. Boy talk about choices! I am pretty much a 6.5 fan, have the 6.5x06, 260 Rem and 6.5x57. people that talk about 6.5's and long range seem to like 140gr match bullet's. In my 6.5x06 and my 6.5x57 I use 140gr Speer hot cores is about all any more. For hunting I could go up to something like 165gr bullet's but I've shot and killed three elk with it and 140gr Hornadys and three shots! For target shooting I think Sierra makes a 140gr bullet which I tried and typical of Sierra match bullet's they were super accurate! They also make a 142gr match bullet but have never tried it. If I were to get a 6.5 strictly for match shooting I think I'd go with the 6.5 CM. It get lot's of talk but something no one seems to mention is the lesser recoil and faster twist in the Creedmore. Jim Carmichael got the 260 Rem going and what he figured about the 260 was easier to shoot long strings of ammo in long range match's. He probably might have though about faster twist too for heavier bullet's. I'd talked to Hornady about their 140gr match bullet's and they said their 140gr bullet's needed a 1-8 twist, mine have 1-9 twist's and they claimed it was to slow.
Something else about cartridges. Seems the best match bullets for long range are in 6.5, 7mm and 30 cal. Those are where I'd look and at cartridges like the 6.5 CM, 7mm-08 and 308/30-06. BTW. I speak of match bullet's and the only ones I ever used were Sierra in 224 cal and 6.5 cal. I have it in my mind that they simply can't be beat, maybe equaled but never beat!
Bottom line for me is you could get crazy spending the money and depending on which way he goes, wasted money! What ever you decide you are looking for a dual purpose rifle and you don't seem to know which purpose will prevail. Good luck.