What is the difference between the ExecuteReader() and ExecuteScalar() methods in ADO.NET when executing a SELECT statement?

ExecuteReader() and ExecuteScalar() are both methods in ADO.NET used to execute SELECT statements, but they differ in their return types and functionalities. ExecuteReader() returns a SqlDataReader object, which allows you to iterate through the result set row by row, while ExecuteScalar() returns a single value from the first column of the first row of the result set. This distinction is crucial when dealing with queries that return multiple rows or single values.