As @anon36505037 said, it’s possible to connect Hue bulbs directly to the SmartThings hub, but it’s definitely not recommended. For one thing, you may find that the bulbs are stuck on a channel where they can’t be easily reset, so you can’t move them on to something else if needed, or even if you just trying to reset because of a problem.
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200848024-How-to-connect-Philips-Hue-devices
You’ll also have a lot more features if you keep them on the Hue bridge, including the ability to use hue’s own scenes through IFTTT or some other integrations.
And there are ongoing problems with zigbee bulbs attached to the smartthings hub using messages that other zigbee devices ask them to repeat. This is true regardless of brand. Many community members have ended up moving even non-Hue brand bulbs onto the hue bridge just to avoid this problem. ( The hue bridge forms its own mini network with the devices attached to it. They will repeat for each other, but not for the other devices on your SmartThings account.)
So you can do it, but most people who do end up wishing they had just stayed with the bridge.
@anon36505037 or one of the other core experts can probably tell you if hue scenes are available through core. Because I now rely on text to speech, I can’t really follow the coding discussions.
But as far as setting colors and intensity for individual hue bulbs or groups of bulbs, as long as you have them attached to the hue bridge, I think core can do it very well.