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Yet Scott initiated communications with Lincoln in October 1860, as evidenced by this November letter. And apparently continued his communications through November and December, as evidenced by this letter. There is no evidence that Buchanan or Floyd were unaware of the communications. Or that they objected to it.....

Oh, but there is.

"General Scott, scarcely able to rise from his sick bed in New York, hastened to Washington on December 12th. [War Secretary] Floyd had hitherto with studied neglect kept him excluded from knowledge of War Department affairs; but now, for the first time consulted, and recognizing the gravity of the situation, the General heartily joined [Secretary of State] Cass in recommending that reinforcements be instantly sent. "Floyd was surprised, disappointed, disconcerted. He summarily rejected the advice of Scott, as he had opposed that of Cass." (Emphasis added.)

-- John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion, 1881, pp. 24-25.

Keeping in mind, of course, that Nicolay is a burning partisan on your side and one of Lincoln's two personal secretaries (the other being John Hay, with whom Nicolay wrote another history of the Lincoln Administration), and has absolutely nothing good to say about any Southerner, unless he betrayed and helped burn down his home State.