Rewind to 1997: Scott Mills first joined BET, initially as a senior vice president of business development. Before that, he was putting in work, hustling in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and even serving as Deputy Treasurer for the City of Philadelphia. Talk about a diverse background!
Before he leveled up to join the Viacom executive team in 2012, Mills was busy holding down multiple critical roles at BET. He wore many hats: president, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and president of digital media for BET Networks. This man was truly hands-on, leading the charge on big initiatives like launching BET Mobile, scaling up digital video distribution, and even getting BET.com off the ground.
His journey continued as Viacom’s chief administrative officer, where he oversaw everything from HR to media tech services, real estate, programming acquisitions, facilities, and security. But the pull of BET was strong. In 2018, as linear TV faced its undeniable decline, Mills returned, ready to innovate. He boldly pushed the network into new frontiers, launching successful ventures like BET+ and BET Studios, plus those popular co-branded, free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels.
The Bid For BET
In an internal memo to his team, Mills perfectly summed up his tenure: “In short, we transformed BET from a declining legacy cable business into a growing media company with leadership positions across the platforms most relevant to Black audiences.” He added, “Stewarding the brand has been a privilege, and I remain deeply proud of how we upheld its legacy while transforming it for the future.” That’s a testament to his vision and dedication.
This news of Mills’ departure arrives amidst a fascinating backdrop: Paramount’s past attempts to sell off BET Media Group. Paramount acquired BET for a cool $2.3 billion way back in 2000, and in 2023, they actually pulled back from negotiations to offload their majority stake. The bidding war was real, with big names like Tyler Perry, Byron Allen of Allen Media Group, and the Miami-based powerhouse Group Black all showing keen interest. Tyler Perry, known for speaking his mind, even publicly slammed the earlier bidding process as “disrespectful.” The future of BET, even with Mills stepping away, remains a hot topic.
