If I plan to hunt in mid or late September, scouting in early September would be too close I would think. Sometimes, however, when I have completely wrecked the area for the year by tracking a deer all over the place and/or repeatedly spooking deer, I will then scout that spot in mid season but not hunt there again til the following year.
I do because the bucks are still in bachelor groups, but are starting to feel different. They, I believe, will start to pattern close to what they would do during the hunting season. In my area here in Virginia, I start hunting the first weekend of October (bow/crossbow season.) I hunt them while they are still in bachelor groups and this will go until about the first to third week of November which will be the rut. Give or take a week or two in time.
I normally hunt the first week and the last week of bow season. Then the next two weeks will be muzzleloader season and then the first week of gun. During this time period, I will go through three distinct periods of activity for the deer. Each is unique unto itself and hunted differently.