My guess is either Scott misinterpreted a couple conversations he had with Duff & Dave, or he just spoke too soon and Slas & Duff are running damage control to release the news in a more preferred manner.
I hope Scott just hasn't pulled a Mike Portnoy here (get overexcited for a possible side-project, piss off the current bandmates, get shut down by side-project).
In reference to earlier, I do agree STP could easily have been more relevant with S/T album. There were songs there that could've worked as radio singles, and Cinnamon especially could have easily landed spins on cross-over stations as well. Had Atlantic Records given a moderate attempt to push the album/singles, there would be a much different aura in the STP camp right now.
My biggest fear out of all of it, assuming Scott was true to his word that he'd dedicate himself to both projects, would be the possibility of Scott wasting any possible vocals/lyrics on VR material that may have worked better with a DeLeo creation.