Exporting all shader node with object to import into another scene I have a loverly loaf of bread, textures, shaded the lot but it's to be part of a much bigger scene. When I export it as any of the files types on offer in the drop down, 3ds. .abc etc., the shader nodes don't come with it and I'm left looking at something like a plastic lump. Do I have to redo all the shading/textures/normal maps etc., in the scene to which I have imported the object or is there a way to bring everything across? Also tried the append function and had no joy.
You should not use the import/export tools when copying stuff from one scene to another. Use the Append tool in your big scene (File->Append) and choose the bread .blend file. Then navigate to the "Objects" folder in the .blend file and select all objects belonging to your loaf of bread. This will import it with all materials applied.

The alternative is to first open the bread .blend, select the bread and press Ctrl + C and then paste it into an other file opened with Ctrl + v