This was done a couple of versions back. Finale caved to pressure from (I suspect) lawyers.

There are a number of music scanning programs available, with varying degrees of cost and capabilities. If scanning is that important to you, you should investigate them.

I agree with Dan and dislike the answer of Mike! it happened to me to lose a score due to an HD Crash in the past - I am talking about an original composition - but fortunately I had an old printed score and I think the scan functionality was useful for these kind of situations.

Let's be clear that functionality was not roses and flowers, it required much work because the importing is a complex functionality
I tendentiously believe that perhaps they received criticism and if users begin to lament poor quality the developers can get sick about that.
that's all suppositions and it is useless trying to guess.

But anyway even if required much user work, the functionality worked for me. And I didn't have to rewrite everything.
So why to keep off one functionality you already have in the software? It sounds like a failure admission.
Anyway you see it, it, one thing is sure: it was a bad choice to dismiss that.

And about the answer:
1. If the functionality was dismissed due to lawyers pressure then why other developers are free to build software without lawyers pressure?
  it makes no sense
2 if you go to another software you probably spend more money and with no certainties that you can then import and edit the thing with Finale
   which is the software on which all of us users  invested money and dozens of hours for learning it.

So the answer is pretty rough and it is the kind of answer that can really get faithful finale users really nervous, because it's like saying
I don't care a fig about you.
And because we are in the argument I think the Finale developers should participate to a forum like this.
Bring me a developer to say "if you don't like my meat go find another butcher" dear Mike so I can reply directly to HIM with a  "VAFFANCULO PLEASE! And I hope you get fired this day"

Sorry you don’t like it, but, I don’t work for Finale. My point was that there are are better options than the SmartScore lite. And they don’t require all of the work that is required because you used an inferior product.

I can tell you, with certainty gained by scanning hundreds of scores of varying complexity, that you can easily bring the files into Finale.

What software would you recommend? Have you tried ScanScore? I currently looking for recommendations.

I use SmartScore Pro. As a Finale owner, you can get it at half price, which is $200. However (and this is a big one) there are problems for Mac users. If you are on Mojave or Catalina, hold off. Musitek is working on a 64-bit version, which (they say) is due in the next few months.

I am with you Mike, but that's not a lot of good news. Any 32 bit app is to be considered heavily obsolete by now. I mean they still pretend to sell 32 bits for that money? :)
I went on the website and for what I have seen they are talking of a competitive upgrade of 299$ at Musitek for the Pro. Which is alot if one doesn't scan like a mad. There are some free software around for those who rarely need the tool I'm gonna post something because now I don't remember what I used moths ago.

$199 for Finale owners. https://www.musitek.com/FinaleUpgrade.html

When Finale included the scanning function, it was the same as the $99 PDF-to-XML that you can get from Musitek. It has the (to my mind) major flaw that it does not allow editing of the recognized files. If you were satisfied with the scan results in the older Finale, you will be satisfied with this.

Reading this thread two years later, it's still true that Finale 26 doesn't accept an import scan of music and Finale 27 has released this week.  Luckily, since I purchased Finale through the years, the older versions are still downloadable (and I never deleted the older download of 2014).  As long as the folder names change and don't remaine only as "Finale" you can (re)install the 2014 release and I used it last night to scan, then save.  Then opened the V26 release and further edited.  I do have the HDD space.  So no extra charge for software I previously purchased.

And you are still using the lesser product of SmartScore Lite. But if you are satisfied with the results, well and good.

Consider the differences between PrintMusic and Finale. Yes, there are some things that you can do in PM just as well as in Finale, but with more time and effort. And some things, not at all. That's the same sort of difference between SmartScore Lite, and Pro. More time, more effort, and some things, not at all. You have to decide what you're worth.

I sincerely doubt that scanning will be added back to Finale.