I like your optimistic appraisal of scouting's situation, but I fear that they may already be half way there. But even worse, that they might be somewhat justified in this, because its just not same world today that it was then. A lot has changed in the 100 years the Scouts have been around. Of course a lot has changed in the last 10 years too, but all in all I'd say the Scouts are doing their best. The biggest challenge the Boy Scouts face is parents who either don't understand the need to prepare their sons and daughters for the future (let alone a survival situation) or are so wrapped up in the illusion of "keeping my boy/girl safe" that they actually believe they can. But what can the Scouts do? Maybe we need a new branch of the Scouts, the Parent Scouts, where parents can get together and learn from each other how to be effective parents, cause lets face it there are a lot of unqualified parents out there. Today I read online about a Woman in London who let her 3 year old child smoke, the kid even had and knew how to use a lighter.

I guess all todays Scout masters and assistant Scout master's can do is work with the boys and girls as best they can while trying to keep peace with the parents. One thought that comes to mind is, are any of the "good" parents willing to run interference with the "bad" parents? Perhaps things could be smoothed over easier on a parent to parent level, rather than on a scout master to parent level.