BET Media Group’s president and CEO, Scott Mills, is stepping away after a solid 23 years with the network.
He first rolled through BET in 1997, taking on the role of senior vice president of business development, having previously hustled in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and serving as Deputy Treasurer for the City of Philadelphia.
Before joining the Viacom executive crew in 2012, Mills held various key positions at BET, including president, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and president of digital media for BET Networks. During his time there, he spearheaded the launch of BET Mobile and ramped up the network’s digital video distribution, as well as starting BET.com.
He later stepped into the role of Viacom’s chief administrative officer, where he tackled responsibilities like HR, media tech services, real estate, programming acquisitions, facilities, and security. In 2018, he made his way back to BET as the industry grappled with the decline of linear TV, pushing the network into new territory with the launches of BET+ and BET Studios, alongside co-branded, free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels.
The Bid For BET
“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,” Mills mentioned in an internal memo to the team. “Stewarding the brand has been a privilege, and I remain deeply proud of how we upheld its legacy while transforming it for the future.”
Mills’ departure comes as the previous leadership at Paramount tried to sell BET Media Group several times since acquiring it for $2.3 billion back in 2000. They’d previously pulled back from negotiations to offload their majority stake in BET in 2023, with interest coming from Tyler Perry, Byron Allen of Allen Media Group, and Miami-based media powerhouse Group Black. Perry didn’t hold back, publicly criticizing the earlier bidding process as “disrespectful.”