The GM is in charge of building a winning team. The scouts are there to gather info and give opinions. It's the GM's decision to listen to his scouts or not. Not much different than these boards really, we all read each others opinions, we all use mostly the same info, then we have our own "guy" that we want to draft. With the Pettersson pick, there were some here that were vocal in Petey's favour, yet many still preferred Vilardi or Glass or whoever. If you wouldn't have drafted Pettersson, it doesn't make you an idiot, nor does that (alone) make Benning an idiot. I actually bet he was like many here: not against the Pettersson pick, it just wasn't his first choice. Should he have listened to his scouts on this one? yep. But I believe it's important for the GM to have the power to make the choice. I'm not saying Benning is the right man for the job, I'm just sharing my issue with the power struggle.
Back to building a winner, the GM has the "vision" of how to go about that. Maybe they think size down the middle is key. Maybe they prefer mobile skilled dmen over big 2-way guys. Maybe they want a whole team of blue-collar hard workers, with no skilled perimeter types. Maybe they value character above all else. And so on. Now how many times do you hear that "you build through the draft"? Well I think the GM should be able to build THEIR team. If players are in the same draft range, and one player does or doesn't fit the GM's winning vision, then they should have the power to make that choice, even if some or most of his scouts prefer another. The team with the best individuals doesn't win, the best team does. And it's the GM's job to build that team.
Now with the Pettersson pick, word is that most (not necessarily all) of the scouts were really pushing for him. That should have probably made Benning heed their advice, but reading these boards, you'd get the impression that Benning went rogue, it was him against the world. But in reality, it was likely that he had Weisbrod and a few of the scouts backing him up as well. Now in this instance, it would have resulted in probably drafting Glass, but I still believe the final word should rest with the GM. Once again, I'm not saying Benning is the right guy for the job.