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[iceball3]

The main idea is this: That sieging forces may send a scout to your site either a few weeks-months ahead of arrival or the planned siege, or that an unfriendly site may send a scout over to try having a look at your defenses.
The scout's preferred skills would be climbing, tactician, ambush, observer, and siege engineer, would arrive on the map in stealth and attempt to avoid line of site or proximity to the site's citizens (unlike kobolds who simply try to get as deep as they can and scamper off as soon as detected).
If dwarves are to be given the ability to directly fight, respect, and avoid fire, perhaps our scout can set an occasional fire as a distraction.
The main intent of the scout is to observe alternate routes and the respective density of dwarves in certain areas of the map, and come up with a siege plan (breach a particular out of the way wall with a constructed siege engine, infantrymen flooding over a wall by climbing a nearby tree and hopping in, taking consideration of drawbridges with mechanisms, trap detection, et cetera.
The idea is that the plan is to be set up beforehand, so the sieging units will be set on performing the plan unless the environment changes enough to invalidate it. This also means that sieging units can bring the proper tools for the job rather than simply giving invading siege engineers free reign over what they can do or leaving it up to random chance (team of spades to breach soil, a large ladder formation for open top fortresses, a large wagon-driven wall slammer for cracking a wall, etc).
If a scout is detected before they finish operations and leave, they will attempt to kill a witness if they are not too threatening, or simply flee off the map like other detected infiltrators. They might be convinced to surrender if surrounded (assuming such a thing is possible when the update for it comes around).

Likewise, player fortress can send expeditionary scouts to sites to infiltrate and return with both "vague" and "specific" reports. The specific reports are simply information acquired that the scout uses minimal personal risk or profile to acquire (no bullying or fighting for it like our normal missions) where as the "vague" reports provide a risk mitigation bonuses to proper missions to the site, for as long as information is relevant.

[Shonai_Dweller]

They could arrive in disguise too. The main function of spies right now is to send information to their leaders, this could work the same way (in addition to regular hidden spies you described).

Would need a more robust guard system first though and citizens who'll report suspicious behaviour.

[iceball3]

They could arrive in disguise too. The main function of spies right now is to send information to their leaders, this could work the same way (in addition to regular hidden spies you described).

Would need a more robust guard system first though and citizens who'll report suspicious behaviour.

Robust guard system for suspicious disguised folks would be needed, yes. In fact, in it's current state, with the existence of disguises in game already, our military really desperately needs a function to simply forcefully evict and exile someone outright, or at least detain them. Perhaps a way to deny access to your site to people before they can even try to get in as a visitor. I wish.
Though, for enemies attempting to scout the site in ambush mode, the patrols for the military are currently somewhat functional insofar for having patrol routes to check for stealthed targets.

[GoblinCookie]

I think that once we have proper siege engines and diggers the original invasion we have at the moment could become scouts.  That would explain why they would not have things like catapults and miners (which is even worse).  If the scouts are unable to make progress because they find obstacles or meet serious resistance they will send a messenger back to a proper army which will arrive with greater numbers, siege engines and/or miners to deal with our resistance.

But if they find a fortress with it's doors wide open and no defenders they will take it over without ever calling for the proper army to come.  If we have one main army and a number of scout detachments orbiting it, we can make the main army less easily misdirected by the forces in random poorly defended villages.