Why does Scots pine belong to gymnosperms?

Pine, like other conifers and several other classes of plants, are gymnosperms. In these plants, the seeds are not covered with a soft protective shell, but grow freely in cones or directly on branches. To understand the difference between gymnosperms and other plants, it is enough to take a cone of any coniferous tree in the fall and compare it and the seeds that are inside with an apple. In a coniferous tree, seeds fall off as they ripen, they are not covered with anything, and in apples, the seeds are in the center, and are surrounded by fruit on all sides.