General survey on the scene (8)
I believe the answer is:
overview
'general survey' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'on the scene' is the wordplay.
'on' becomes 'over' (I've seen this in other clues).
'the scene' becomes 'view' ('view' can be a synonym of 'scene'**).
'over'+'view'='OVERVIEW'
(Other definitions for overview that I've seen before include "inspection" , "Broad perspective formed from above, general survey" , "General summary of a subject" .)