Scott Mills, who serves as president and CEO of BET Media Group, will vacate the function in a number of weeks after serving on the firm for greater than twenty years. Scott Mills knowledgeable BET employees of his strikes through an inner memo and thanked his predecessors for paving the way in which for his ascension.
Deadline experiences that Scott Mills knowledgeable the employees of his choice this week and finalized his exit over the previous couple of weeks. As president of BET Media Group, Mills, a New York native, oversaw BET’s cable enterprise, BET Studios, and BET+.
Mills labored as an funding banker earlier than his time with BET and met its former proprietor, Robert L. Johnson, who employed the Wharton Faculty graduate. Mills was the SVP, Enterprise Growth for Viacom, BET’s former mum or dad firm, in 1997. He then labored as COO of BET Interactive, CFO, and President and COO of the community.
Afterwards, Mills went to Viacom to function its EVP and Chief Administrative Officer, overseeing Human Sources, Media Expertise Providers, Actual Property, Programming Acquisitions, Services, and Safety. He was named president of BET in 2017 and CEO in 2021.
A few of Mills’ notable strikes had been the creation of BET Studios with Kenya Barris and Rashida Jones, and spearheading the BET+ streaming platform improvement and launch. With Paramount being acquired by Skydance, BET was absorbed into Paramount’s TV division together with CBS and different former Viacom channels.
Learn Scott Mills’ memo to his employees in full under:
Pricey Group,
After 23 years at BET, I’ve made the tough choice to step down as President and CEO. Main this extraordinary model and serving the Black group alongside all of you has been an unbelievable honor and privilege. Your expertise, ardour, and unwavering dedication to BET’s mission have pushed all that we’ve achieved as a crew. As I mirror on our journey, I’m deeply happy with what we’ve constructed.
When Bob Johnson requested me to affix BET a few years in the past, I noticed it as a possibility to be taught from America’s most profitable Black entrepreneur. It proved to be a grasp class in daring imaginative and prescient and distinctive execution, culminating within the introduction of the Black American billionaire.
This visionary method continued below Debra Lee, who guided BET’s transition from music video programming to premium scripted originals and cultural tentpoles, greenlit groundbreaking hits like THE GAME, BEING MARY JANE, and THE NEW EDITION STORY; and elevated the BET model.
After I returned to steer BET in 2018, the trade was confronting the inexorable decline of cable. Recognizing this, the BET crew set about executing yet one more daring, visionary plan: increasing BET past cable.
We launched BET+, which rapidly grew to hundreds of thousands of subscribers and doubled our content material manufacturing. We aggressively prolonged our digital footprint and grew our cable share. We adopted our streaming success with the launch of BET Studios after which established a vital beachhead within the quickly increasing FAST ecosystem with our co-branded FAST channels. Briefly, we remodeled BET from a declining legacy cable enterprise right into a rising media firm with management positions throughout the platforms most related to Black audiences.
The Black artistic group’s help was instrumental to our success. From our record-breaking partnership with Tyler Perry – yielding numerous hits and the #1 collection on TV for Black audiences – to Lee Daniels delivering BET’s first primetime Emmy and Tony nominations and introducing us to the extremely gifted Ms. Pat and Jordan Cooper. From Queen Latifah and Deon Cole main our celebration of Black excellence, to Taraji P. Henson education us on our largest stage, Kevin Hart coming residence for the twenty fifth anniversary of tradition’s largest night time, and Jesse Collins’ producorial genius – the group’s help has been unbelievable.
What I cherish most about this journey is working alongside my unbelievable colleagues; being of service, together with partnering with Black enterprise leaders to boost practically $20 million to help Black People through the pandemic; celebrating and supporting our group with excellent companions just like the NAACP and Nationwide City League; and collaborating with the neatest, boldest, and most gifted artistic minds within the trade.
Thanks to your partnership, your ardour, and your perception in BET. Stewarding the model has been a privilege, and I stay deeply happy with how we upheld its legacy whereas remodeling it for the longer term.
With nice appreciation,
Scott
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Picture: Getty
