Yes but why was it so? I can certainly understand why scart wasn't an option in America, because it was also called an euro connector, and in America only american standards will do 
But why didn't you have a similar alternative standard? Am I right in assuming that it was the movie industry that was afraid of the possibility for people to copy video tapes with decent quality?
I doubt it, even though they have SCART I have never seen a VHS deck that could output or record in anything other than composite video.
SCART became popular in Europe because of France using it for their online services back in the late 70's and early 80's. There was not enough consumer demand for it in America & without government enforcing it (like France did) it was never going to happen. The last time I was in America the TV's in the hotel were hooked up to a set top box by RF.
I don't remember SCART being that common on TV's in the UK until the late 80's.
