If it is determined that the injury is season ending for next year, the C's could apply for a disabled player exception. If the league approves it, it would allow the C's to sign a player for 1/2 of Scal's salary. The NBA may also not count Scal's salary against the luxury tax, which would be huge.
The other important part would be that insurance would likely pay Scal's salary next year...which would make it much more likely that ownership will open up their checkbooks for a full MLE deal (right now, I don't think its a given).