A "scoop" is when you find out some information that powerful people don't want you to know. If some

A "scoop" is when you find out some information that powerful people don't want you to know.

If someone at a company calls you up and tells you information because they would very much like the world to know it, that's not a scoop. That's PR. 

It can pay off for a journalist to play the PR game over the long haul and sometimes those "not-really-leaks" can be hot stories that get a lot of eyes, but they aren't scoops. 

"Scoop" is overused to the point of meaninglessness.