Scouting is a pretty tough job and not exactly appealing to someone with a family. It sounds great to us considering it's what some people do here as a hobby (in a much more limited capacity) but there is a ton of travelling involved.
I would have done exactly what he did, take the 2 mil, go get a more relaxing job somewhere else and collect two paycheques. He already played in the NHL, was a successful player agent, and was the GM/President of a team. I don't think a short stint as a scout would make any difference for him to get hired or not. I'm not sure if he even wants to be a GM again, he sounded pretty fed up with everyone by the end of it and is probably thankful he doesn't have the Toronto-based media criticizing his every move now.