I find the concept of “Scheme” to be no more negative than the idea behind any LISP implementation or derivative.
My favorite example of the British neutral/positive usage is the old All-Up Empire Tuppence Airmail Scheme. Cite. Another cite.(Can’t seem to find a cite for the 2p/tuppence part, though.)
Any word can have positive or negative connotations depending on the context, just like “scheme”.
- My wife is always scheming to get me to repaint things.
- I depend on her to help plan the color scheme.
Surely most words don’t have so much context-dependence, that’s why “scheme” is rather unusual and merits this discussion.
This particular word tends to have more negative connotations depending on which side of the Atlantic you are.