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> That's not what "scoops" means!

It does in British English, and this is a British university writing in their native language.

Pretty common to hear scoop be used in this context. Maybe it's a UK thing?

"If you scoop a prize or award, you win it."

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scoop

I've never heard of scooping a rival - otherwise this is the same usage. A publisher 'gets the scoop' (a great story, a win) or scoops the story just as a mathematician scoops a prize.

Journalists get a scoop on their rivals when they publish impactful news first.

I've never heard that usage before either. ('on their'.) Whenever I've used or heard it, the scoop is the prize-analagous story.