Disorganised scout sales are hopeless affairs (4,6)
I believe the answer is:
lost causes
'hopeless affairs' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
'disorganised scout sales' is the wordplay.
'disorganised' is an anagram indicator.
'scout'+'sales'='scoutsales'
'scoutsales' with letters rearranged gives 'LOST CAUSES'.
'are' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for lost causes that I've seen is " people who can't succeed".)