Because the cutthroat nature of the NRL made the emerging centre a huge addition to Canberra's search for a drought-breaking premiership.

Scott will join the Raiders on a four-year deal as the club looks to add more firepower to its impressive group of outside backs.

The former Melbourne Storm centre's move to the capital is a done deal after he met with Stuart earlier this month.

Scott still had two years to run on his contract with the Storm but was given permission to explore other opportunities.

The 22-year-old will be a huge boost for a Raiders outfit looking to cover the loss of Japan-bound winger Jordan Rapana.

"I've got to keep improving the roster," Stuart said.

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

"When the scenario put in front of me and we knew we could fit him into our cap, I thought it was a great addition because he is a quality footy player.

"We're invested into his future and we're very excited about being a part of it."

Scott joins Australian international Nick Cotric, Raiders captain Jarrod Croker, Joey Leilua, Bailey Simonsson and Michael Oldfield in the outside back corps.

The Raiders are keen to lure Rapana back to the capital once his season in Japan comes to a close but the move could hinge on an NRL clearance.

The bulk of Canberra's NRL squad will return for pre-season training next week as they look to avenge this year's grand final defeat.

Halfback Aidan Sezer will not be among them after he joined the Huddersfield Giants for a two-year stint in the Super League.

While the Storm have said goodbye to Scott, winger Josh Addo-Carr isn't returning to Sydney with Melbourne confirming he will be part of their 2020 NRL line-up.

Storm chief executive Dave Donaghy said he met with Addo-Carr on Thursday in Sydney, where he is holidaying with his family, to confirm his commitment to the minor premiers.

There was speculation that the NSW Origin flyer wanted out of the final two years of his contract to remain in Sydney, with former club Wests Tigers ready to pounce.

The Tigers reportedly yanked a massive offer to Sydney Roosters premiership centre Latrell Mitchell to chase Addo-Carr.

But Donaghy said Addo-Carr wasn't heading home and would be back at training on December 16.

"I can say hand on heart Josh is committed to Storm as much as we're committed to Josh," Donaghy said.

"We don't respond a lot to external noise but given there is quite a bit of commentary at the moment I thought I'd clear that up."

Melbourne on Friday confirmed the departure of Brodie Croft and Scott as they shake up their NRL playing list, which bowed out in the preliminary finals.

Halfback Croft is joining Brisbane after the Storm released he and Scott from their contracts.

Both players made their NRL debut for Melbourne in 2016 with Scott going on to play 48 NRL games, including nine in 2019, while Croft took his career tally to 39 appearances with 22 matches this year.

Croft fell out of favour with coach Craig Bellamy heading into this year's finals series while Scott had a rollercoaster season due to injury and is believed to want to move closer to Sydney for personal reasons.

Melbourne say they will make further changes to the roster to ensure they are salary cap compliant.