No manager worth his salt can expect to know everything about potential signings and opponents without relying on a team of specialist scouts. On this screen you can manage your scouting staff by assigning specific tasks to them.

Scouting Mission
The main window in the screen show players the selected scout has uncovered in his most recent search. It will be blank if the scout has not been assigned to a scouting mission or has not yet turned up any players worthy of note. Once a scouting mission is complete, or a particularly noteworthy player has been identified, you'll be notified in the News and you can save the scouted players list by clicking Search and selecting Save Shortlist, before you set your scout away on another mission.
Scouted players will be automatically added to your shortlist, though you should make fuller notes on players you are particularly interested in by clicking the Add To Notes button when you receive a scout's report. This will instantly flag up players you're interested in signing for future reference.
Each scout can only perform one task at once, but you can cycle through your available scouts by clicking Scout and selecting the staff member you want to focus on from the drop down list.
The key button on this page is Assign. Click this to choose from a series of drop down options that enables you to send your scout off on a mission. Once you click Assign you can select New Search, or Recall to ask your scout to return from his current mission for a more important task.

Scouting Assignments
The New Search window works in a similar way to the Customise option when you are dealing with players in Search: Players. Here you can select the duration of your scout's mission by clicking the bar to the right of the word 'Duration' which defaults to 1 month. In the panel below you can choose conditions for the scout to adhere to when he is selecting players to report back to you about.
The main assignment button is the bar entitled 'Choose', which allows you to set your coach to examine your next opponent (in which case you'll receive a pre-match briefing in News), a specific club, country, region or even a tournament. Asking a scout to perform reconnaissance on your next opponent will help you formulate your tactics for the next game.
You can examine the list of players scouted more closely using the View and Filter options, which work in just the same way as the Search: Players buttons of the same name.
Another way to make use of your scouts is by asking them to report on individual players. See Get Scout Report. This will help you to weigh up the ability of a potential signing, or enable you to learn more about an opponent you perceive as a particular threat in a forthcoming game.