Daniel Spiewak has written a fair number of Scala articles, and I've found them to be quite helpful:

http://www.codecommit.com/blog/category/scala/page/10

Before you jump into Scala I'd recommend being familiar with Java and (at the least) being comfortable with the basics of an ML-like language or Haskell. Having had experience with a scripting language like Ruby or Python helps too.

Knowing Java, Haskell, Ruby, and Python already, I found it really easy to jump into Scala with the references listed on the Scala site. If you do have experience with Java/statically-typed FP (or if you're just feeling brave) that's where I'd recommend looking.