I think that AP scores say something but not everything about a student. Each piece of information on an application tells the college something but no one piece of information tells the entire story. I think that is how AP scores are treated. My kids come from a state which is considered somewhat backwards educationally (FL). Even though they attend a well regarded private college prep school kids from FL are often viewed with skepticism. For my kids the high AP scores are probably viewed as validation of their high grades where a kid from one of the NE boarding schools grades are taken at face value whether they have AP scores or not.
As an applicant students should think abut what their AP scores say about them to adcoms and include or withhold them depending on whether they think the AP scores help. I think adcoms do consider AP exam scores but they don’t consider them in a vacuum.