[ghostinit]

Yeah in theory. Scrum Guide says it can be anyone, but when you hire a dedicated full-time Scrum Master... they need to justify existing.

That's when it stops being team member helping out and becomes process person from outside.

[PaulHoule]

The key issue in conflicts over scrum is trust. When trust is there it does not really matter what process you use, things go pretty smoothly. People look to process when trust isn't there, but no process can really create or restore trust.

If there is something positive about agile in low-trust situations it is, without agile, people can kick the can down the road a long way (six months!) before there is a confrontation that reveals the low trust problem. With agile it leads to meeting after nerve-wracking meeting... which of course can wear you out.