Didn't realise I was infamous
My personal experience was DD (DC1), who was born last April at home with IM's as a footling breech, 9lb 12oz in about 7 hours with no pain relief.
Background reading I was given that, IMO, gave a much more balanced view than the NHS was: "Breech Birth" by Benna Waites and "Breech Birth: What are my options?" by Jane Evans. I'd recommend both of them (the first is longer and discusses alternative therapies that are often suggested, incl accupuncture, moxibustion, chiropractor, positioning, and probably some more besides).
Position is a tricky one. I had to fight to get a scan before 37 weeks to confirm presentation, and in the end got in at 36. DD was frank/extended breech. Something changed around 40+5, and at 41+2 I had another scan (explicitely requested by MWs) to check what was going on - she'd got her legs down and was full breech. She was born about 12 hours later as a footling. So I guess two things to take away from that are that it is possible to birth a footling breech safely, and that positions can change! I'd assume that whether or not you get a late scan depends on your midwife and your PCT policy - but they should certainly scan before a CS.
If your friend stays within the NHS, is confirmed breech and wants a vaginal delivery then she may well have a fight on her hands. I was initialy given the "option" of successful ECV or CS. When pushed they said they wouldn't recommend it but if I really wanted then they'd "allow" me to attempt a vaginal delivery, but it would be in theatre, in lithotomy, with a pair of forceps and with a cast of thousands looking on. I would add that this was the registrar's view - while I was on the ante-natal ward I got the impression that some of the midwives would have been supportive of a "hands off" breech birth, but by then I had little confidence that they'd be allowed to help me without calling the Dr's to fulfil trust policy, or that once the Dr's were called they'd refrain from medicalising the whole caboodle.
I was very lucky in that I could afford IM's, and even luckier to live close enough to some that I trusted implicitly and could take me on at 36 weeks. If I'd stayed within the NHS I would have opted for a section - at that stage I didn't feel up to fighting that battle.
Ah yes, the infamous Term Breech Trial... The Term Breech Trial was a large study done by Hannah et al, was published in 2000 and compared planned method of delivery for breech babies (vaginal vs. CS). It found that CS was apparently safer for both mother and baby. However, there are a large number of issues that have been raised with the conception, execution and analysis of this study and papers have been published on both sides of the Atlantic recommending it's conclusions be ignored (there's the full text of a critique available here for free if you're interested that has some of them. The complete list of flaws is horrifyingly long ). Sadly, the results were lept on and, almost overnight, CS for breech became the norm across much of the developed world.
Everyone agrees that key to the safe vaginal birthing of a breech baby is the skill and experience of the attendants. I'm very afraid that CS for breech has become so common midwives are not developing those skills and so soon CS WILL be the safest way to deliver a breech baby. Which is fine till you're not diagnosed .