Before Brown's three-year stint at the Blues as an assistant coach, the pair were part of a highly-respected coaching setup at the Magpies.
"I was super-impressed with him (Scott) in my time at Collingwood and the last couple of weeks I can tell why he's a senior coach," Brown told NMFC.com.au.
"He knows the game very well, his philosophies are terrific. He's got a great work ethic and a great rapport with the staff and the players.
"I saw that at Collingwood so it's no surprise."
The opportunity to get back into the development side of coaching, which he enjoyed at Collingwood was another big factor in Brown's decision to join the Kangaroos in October.
"I saw North Melbourne as really attractive with their talent and their youth.
"I'll be working closely with Ben Dyer and Jarred Moore with the first to fourth year players, trying to fast-track their development and get them to their optimum potential as quickly as they can."
Brown spent time with North's emerging youngsters before travelling to Utah for the final week of the club's high-altitude camp. He's already been impressed by his new surroundings.
"I think it's really exciting. Watching the last two weeks, the skill level is fantastic right across the board, from the senior players right down to the younger guys.
"There's also an enormous amount of depth. That group of second to fourth-year players are going to be really eager to play senior footy this season coming and I think that's going to make for really healthy competition."
A big part of Brown's coaching philosophy is effort, an approach that rung true in his playing days.
"I know that sounds silly, but I think there's effort, and there's 'real effort'.
"If you give real effort you give yourself a really good chance.
"Since I've been on board I've been super-impressed with the players' skill level, their want, their desire, application and professionalism. It's a really exciting list."
Only new to the club himself, the former Magpies' captain has the job of making North's latest additions feel welcome.
Trent Dumont and Ben Brown faced the intimidating task of meeting 40 new team-mates in Utah last week, but have had no issues settling in.
"Seeing all the players to a man coming over and introducing themselves to the young players is really impressive.
"It's just invaluable having guys to look up to like Drew Petrie, (Brent) Boomer Harvey, Jack Ziebell, Andrew Swallow and even Nick Dal Santo. He's come from another football club but he still took the time to grab the boys the other day off his own bat and do a little bit of extra tackling practice with them."
While any player coming into the system is understandably desperate to impress, Brown has some words of advice.
"The biggest challenge is they are going to want to join in and do everything," he said.
"History will show that first-year players, even those who've had senior experience, their bodies are not capable of doing everything.
"They are going to tend to get a little frustrated. One of the biggest challenges for them is going to be to bide their time and just have faith and trust in the conditioning staff and the coaching staff and know that it's going to help them in the future."
Brown believes the value of listening can't be understated.
"I've noticed that the young blokes who are able to come in and take on feedback, they'll get fast-tracked. If they can really hang on every word that the senior players and the coaches and conditioning staff have, it's going to hold them in good stead."
From an individual perspective, Brown couldn't be more impressed in North's first pick in the National Draft.
"Trent (Dumont) has fitted in like a glove; you wouldn't know he's a first-year player. He's quite confident, but respectful.
"He's not doing all the training at the moment, but what he has been able to do he's certainly been very capable.
"He's an outstanding character. You only have to meet him once and you can tell that. He's quite an intelligent young man and he's very keen and eager to make it. He's going to be very low maintenance."”
Already a cult-hero among the fans for his unique hairstyle, Ben Brown is also making a big impression.
"He's super-keen and he's going to be the type to leave no stone unturned, you can certainly tell that. He's as keen as mustard."
