I'm pretty sure this predated the programming language. I can't find a source on when Scala (the microtuning one) first appeared but it existed when I first got into this stuff around 2004, and I didn't have the impression it was new at the time.
Scala the programming language had its first public release on 2004-01-20[1].
[0] http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/examples.html
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scala_(programming_language)
From my perspective as a Linux user and developer, one problem with it was the non-commercial-only licence which, while obviously reasonable, prevented it from being packaged in many Linux distributions. If it wasn't for that, your "apt-get install scala" might well be installing this application rather than the programming language.
Or my favourite restaurant in Ibiza. [2][3]
Though I did grow up with Scala the company on my tv as the local cable tv company was powered by it. Now I work most of the time using Scala the programming language.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Scala
[3] https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g664638-d100...