Last week club chief executive and presidents met with the AFL commission to discuss equalisation in the game, and AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou stressed the importance of each club being able to pay a full cap.
Scott agreed, saying it was fundamental.
"That is the most critical part of equalisation," Scott told SEN on Tuesday.
"We've got a smaller football department than some, but we think it's got absolute quality and we think we can compete with any club based on the resources we've got at North.
"But if we can't pay our players over the long-term, there's a significant difference."
Scott said the gap between clubs who paid their full salary cap and those who didn't needed to close.
"Some clubs who haven't been able to pay their TPP (total player payments) in full over the last five years are roughly about three million dollars short in paying their players," he said.
"There'd be outrage I'm sure if North Melbourne went out and recruited Buddy Franklin, Brendon Goddard and Dale Thomas. But going short on your TPP every year, that's in effect what you're giving up over a five-year period."
North chairman James Brayshaw supported equalisation in football, but doesn't believe in a spending cap on club football departments as some have suggested.
"I don't necessarily like a spending cap, because innovation is one of our values as a footy club," Brayshaw told SEN.
"And I think if you're a non-for-profit organisation you've got to spend any money you've got on something.
"I think [equalisation] has got to happen. It is a dis-equal competition; the draw is one of the most dis-equal things.
"You just don't get the same opportunity to generate income as the bigger clubs because you're not on free-to-air TV as often, you're not playing in blockbuster games, [and] you're not scheduled to make that money….You do need to be compensated for that."
On Monday, Demetriou said there was an option to limit the number of people in football departments.
"Maybe we should put a cap on the number of people, like they do in Formula One. Maybe you have six coaches and two physios and a high performance guy," Demetriou told Fox Footy.
"I think people are open to suggestions about how we can put a handbrake on spending."
