"There's no doubt that if we roll out what we rolled out last year that we won't win the premiership," Scott said from Skilled Stadium on Tuesday.
"The club finished third last year and there were two sides that were clearly better than Geelong were so we need to improve, but I've heard Ross Lyon talking about St Kilda needing to improve and Mick Malthouse [said] the same with Collingwood."
The rookie coach delivered the blunt assessment ahead of the Cats' opening NAB Cup matches, against the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne, on Sunday.
Scott will take the reins as a senior coach for the first time and is looking forward to seeing his players attempt to put into practice the retooled game plan they've worked on since he took over from Mark Thompson at the end of last season.
"We've worked on a few things and we'd like to think that we're in a reasonable position, but like most other sides we're not sure. It will be interesting," he said.
"My philosophy is that you play what's presented in front of you.
The Cats mentor said that there would be times his players had to maintain possession and others when kicking to a contest would be the desirable option.
"I think we've already seen a bit of an evolution towards that anyway and we pride ourselves on being a contested side. We're no different to the other sides in the top eight in that respect."
The Cats will play in the first and third games of the round-robin format and will field two markedly different sides with Scott aiming to spread his experienced players evenly across each.
Matthew Scarlett (ankle) and Cameron Ling (hamstring) are the only two experienced players definitely ruled out, but Scott said both would likely see some action later in the NAB Cup if Geelong do advance.
The coach said he didn't have a preference when asked how far into the pre-season competition he'd like to go, but went on to express his dismay at some of the rule changes trialled during the first round of the series.
"The NAB Cup [first round] rules, with the boundary throw-ins and the reduced interchanges, you could be lulled into thinking the AFL don't want any stoppages and therefore want ruckmen out of the game completely, which I think would be a really sad thing," he said.
"But in terms of how the game evolves in that respect, we're all kind of guessing."
Matthew Scarlett is a $260,200 defender in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
Cameron Ling is a $344,200 midfielder in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
