Scrum Master Real Life Scenarios

If it was possible to have a detailed plan for the months and years ahead, if it was clear what activities exactly needed to be done, if a project release deadline was longer than one Sprint, why would we use Scrum at all?

Scrum is for establishing empirical process control under conditions of high uncertainty. We learn to build the right thing at the right time.

Yes, scrum is empirical process. What I tried to express is I know what is my plan, steps, points to consider for 30-60-90 days would be before I start, like all other role to be successful they should have plan.

My question was how about 12-18 months plan?

Plus other real life scenario questions.

What is your plan for 12-18 months?

If this is in the context of the Product Owner, I would bring in the conversation of having a vision, a measurable Product Goal, and the Sprint Goal. And then go with Ian's theme of using empiricism. When faced with uncertainty where there are many unknowns, empiricism is your best shot. Each Sprint a Sprint Goal is one tactical step towards the Product Goal, and we inspect progress towards the Product Goal and adapt as needed. Treat the Product Backlog as your transparent plan, allowing it to emerge and adapt as well as more is discovered.

The team defined a technical improvement story they want to do, but it is not clear to you what activities exactly need to be done for that story. 

Is this a problem? and/or what would you do?

Perhaps you do absolutely nothing at all as a Scrum Master. Do you trust the team? Might there be some good learning opportunities? Is this a good opportunity for the team to learn to self-manage?

Again context matters. Is this something that you as a Scrum Master observe on a regular basis? Are you asking as a Developer on the team? Is this the first time? Is this a mature Scrum Team or have they just formed?

I am finding the best answers for these questions. Any help?

There are no best answers to any of those questions.  Every question depends on the context for which they are asked.  For example, I would answer extremely different based on whether the context was waterfall project management or any agile practice.  I would also answer differently if my role was Product Owner, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Developer, Development Manager. 

What I tried to express is I know what is my plan, steps, points to consider for 30-60-90 days would be before I start, like all other role to be successful they should have plan.

This statement raises all kind of alarm bells for me, especially in the context of agile software delivery.  If you are able to state your plan, steps, points to consider for 90 days from now, you are losing all of the benefits of empiricism.  My current job has a title of Manager of Software Engineering and I fill the role of Scrum Master on two teams that my direct reports make up.  However, I do not manage anything that they do. I fill out all of the employment paperwork for them but they decide everything about how they work and when they work on specific things.  I don't expect anyone to know plans, steps, points to consider beyond the current two week Sprint.  And in some cases I don't expect that knowledge beyond 24 hours.  How do I determine success?  By taking the stakeholders feedback, by seeing a continuous flow of delivery, by watching how quickly and frequently everything changes based upon new knowledge. All of your questions are based upon command-control management and fixed project plans.  Delivery in an agile manner is based upon servant-leadership and frequent adaptations. 

  I agree with @Ian and @Daniel regarding : What is your plan for 12-18 months? I know my plan for 30-60-90 days in detail, what is the best answer to this question? That is a trick question and basically is neither Agile nor Scrum!  It's clearly a Waterfall way of thinking. The Agile mindset values empiricism with no upfront plans.  If I may ask, would the question be referring to a plan of introducing Agile in the company?