We present results for summed orbital 1+ strengths in Sm and Nd isotopes obtained from deformed Hartree-Fock + BCS calculations, using a microscopic formulation of the scissors mode (the PHFB model) that excludes spurious contributions. It is found that the calculated 1+ strengths for the two chains of isotopes are proportional to delta-2 and that the summed strengths up to 4 MeV are in fair agreement with experimental data. It is also found that when pairing is neglected the total scissors mode strength is proportional to delta-rather than to delta-2. Analytical expressions are given for the explicit dependence on the deformation parameter with and without pairing, valid for the anisotropic harmonic oscillator model.Peer reviewe