People forget that “Death Star” and “Star Destroyer” are on-the-nose ridiculous names for things, we’ve just gotten used to them. Even “Star Wars” itself is a bit prosaic.
OK - so it was the binoculars and looking up into the sky that I specifically remembered. You sure you saw this in 1977? I believe I did, too (or shortly thereafter when it was on cable). This scene was definitely not in the VHS or DVD release.
Look at the user name – I’m certain that @Skywatcher is sure of seeing Luke watching the sky. 
To the best of my knowledge, they were never seen except (perhaps) in previews. However, as a personal observation, the very, very first time I saw the movie, never having seen the comic book or the novel or any other evidence, I knew at once that those scenes were missing.
My favorite bit of geeky trivia: in 1993, the BBC did a radio adaptation of the “Death of Superman” storyline, called “Superman: Doomsday and Beyond.” William Hootkins (Porkins) played Lex Luthor in that adaptation. Garrick Hagon (Biggs) played Perry White.
I sometimes wonder if, between takes, they ever reminisced about the good old days when they both got blown up while attacking the Death Star.
I recall the binocular scene being set at night – or at least dusk – and do not remember that robot but I definitely saw Luke and his binoculars while at a drive-in theater in '77. Such theaters often received special prints due to the lighting situation being so different from indoor theaters.
Is this true? I saw a lot of drive-in movies back in the day, and I don’t recall ever seeing any added or deleted scenes when viewing them again on the small screen or in indoor theatres.
The info about special prints came from someone who claimed to have worked at a drive-in back in the day.
We know that the binocular scene had been in the movie at some point and George removed it supposedly because someone pointed out that viewers could get confused. Which I did.
Before, or after it was released to the public? I believe that is the pertinent question.
Are you sure you aren’t remembering the scene where Luke is looking for R2 after he skedaddled? It’s at dusk, and includes him scanning the horizon with the binoculars, and was definitely in the original release. I can’t find a youtube clip, but it’s at 26:30 if you have Disney+.
The hype about Star Wars was huge right from the beginning, and I am thinking that if the movie was pulled from circulation to change a scene there would be news about it.
Positive. The space battle cuts to a long shot, then as seen through binoculars. With me wondering who in the hell the guy is.
Certainly not a wide release. IMO, this will not be settled unless a drive-in print turns up.
Interesting. That scene is in the original novelization - Luke sees the space battle, drives into Anchorhead to tell his friends about it, but by the time he arrives the battle is over and they all make fun of him for imagining it.
In 1981 there was an initial interest in the deleted scenes, because they included the actress Koo Stark who was dating Prince Andrew. So maybe some of them (or at least stills) were released at the time.
Unless this redo happened between the first and second showing on May 25th 1977, when I went to the premiere at Mann’s Chinese, then I have serious doubt. Until shown otherwise, the first reedit was in 1981 when Episode IV and A New Hope were added to the title credits.
That’s not a drive-in. 
And there is nothing about a special Star Wars drive-in print that I can find and, considering the extent of Star Wars fandom, if it existed there would be something about it.
And I’m positive that I saw this seemingly random guy watching the battle through his binoculars at the Starlite Drive-in Kankakee in 1977. Until that YouTube video, this was the only time.
Could some of these remembered scenes have been from the trailers?
There’s barely parking!
Not in my case. One of my sisters had brought her best friend along to watch the movie; friend continually asked questions about the movie. IIRC, she also wanted to know who’s the guy with the binoculars.