Late point scrambled, offering hope for the future (9)
I believe the answer is:
potential
'future' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'late point scrambled' is the wordplay.
'scrambled' is an anagram indicator.
'late'+'point'='latepoint'
'latepoint' is an anagram of 'POTENTIAL'.
'offering hope for the' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for potential that I've seen before include "Latent power" , "Latent; ability to develop" , "Possibility, promise" , "Inherent capacity not realised" , "Latent talent" .)