Hello Timkins & All,
I realize I'm late to this thread & I'm glad to read that you have the scanner working!
I have a "Plan B" solution that you may also like. The solution allows devices to connect wirelessly to your Brother, but with a twist.
(Sorry that this reply is kind of long...)
BACKGROUND:
I've got almost exactly the same brother MFC Printer Scanner printer that you have & had the exact same problem. (Mine is the 2-tray version of your MFC & my printer-scanner does not have NFC capability.) I also had my printer connected to the router via USB (mine wasn't an Apple router, however).
The only way I could scan was using the way Slydude mentioned: USB from Computer-to-Printer. Wired from printer-to-router did not allow scanning.
Brother's normal wireless set up never worked. Tech support's answer was to use a USB, just like Slydude mentioned. (So much for wireless...) The problem is that my wife's computer is on the first floor & the printer is in the basement, so that is why I bought a (supposedly) wireless printer.
THE WIRELESS SOLUTION:
Then, after much experimentation, I came up with "Plan B":
Computer Talks Wirelessly To Router. Router Talks Via Wire To Printer-Scanner
Any device that can wirelessly 'talk' to the router can operate the printer-scanner. (Like phones & stuff.)
You don't have to cable direct if your printer is far from the router. At first, my printer was connected to an ethernet jack which goes to a central punch-down block where all the ethernet jacks meet. Then the printer was connected to another jack. My 'Plan B' worked fine that way.
Now, the printer is coincidentally under the router, so it goes directly to the router.
STEP-BY-STEP:
Step One: Uninstall the printer using System Preferences & re-boot the Mac.
Step Two: Remove all of the Brother software on the computer. It was very hard to find all of it, so I used Easy Find. app to get everything. Brother sure sends a lot pf programs with the printer.
Step Three: Connect the Brother device to the router with a wire. (I used an ethernet cable. I think USB will also work. I could not test if for you because my router's firmware does not support USB.)
Step Four: I let OS X install the printer but used the driver from Apple instead of Brother. Don't choose wireless.
The MFC is actually wired, just the computer, phone & iPads are wireless.
Step Four Note: Scanning did not work with the drivers from Brother's DVD or web site. It only worked with drivers received via Apple Software update. I have no idea why the difference. (And when I upgraded my OS to 10.11, I again could only use drivers from Apple.)
Step Five: Celebrate Success!
You don't get most of the extra programs that Brother supplies, like Control Center & the really lousy OCR app, but you still get the Status Monitor so you can check ink level, stop in-progress printing & stuff like that. You also get to keep the Scan To button on the machine for each computer in your network and all the FAXing capabilities.
To Summarize: Printer - Cord - Router Computer - <Wireless> - Router
NOT REALLY RELATED, BUT THIS BREAKS THROUGH ANOTHER BROTHER OBSTACLE:
You may have noticed that your printer's box and manual probably state scan resolutions that are not actually available on your scanner.
For example: Mine stated 2,400 x 2,400 optical scan resolution. It is in the manual, on the box, on the web site and on a sticker on the machine itself.
In reality, the printer actually could not even reach 600 x 600- optical or interpolated.
Brother tech support told me "Yes, the scanner can do those resolutions, but our software & drivers can't. You have to find your own software." (When you buy a car that advertises 300 HP, do you have to find & buy and purchase an engine on your own that can do 300 HP?)
So, after lots of research trying to get a 600x600 scan, I did what any smart person would do: Asked on this forum for ideas.
An application called Vue Scan was highly recommended. (hamrick dot com)
Vue Scan sent my scanner into the Rolls Royce class.
I not only can scan up to 2,400 x 2,400 but can also do every scan much, much faster. The application also has many useful features that either make scan tasks more fun or more efficient.
My favorite feature (besides the speed of scanning) is "Interleave".
As an example, if I have a multi page document with printing on both sides, I stick them in the document feeder face up and scan. Next I flip the stack over & scan. Then I click the "Interleave" button. The pages get shuffled back into the correct order. With the Brother software I had to scan manually if the item was two-sided. That's tedious if it is a many paged document.
My next favorite is what I call the "Oops, I forgot" button. If I scan something & forgot a page or want to add a page, I can click the application's "Scan Plus" button to add it to the scanned document. With Brother's software, I'd have to scan 2 separate documents & use an Automator script to merge them.
Tech Support is great, too. Ask a question & you get a very fast reply that is 100% helpful.
Actually, before I got the application, I wrote & asked if it would let me scan to the resolutions that Brother advertised. Mr. Hamrick (the owner & engineer) wrote back & asked me to try it (free) and let him know. It did not let my particular MFC reach over 600x600. I let Mr. Hamrick know & the next day, he published an updated version that got me all the way to the 2,400 x 2,400 scan resolution. All of this was done before I spent one penny with the company. How's that for great customer service?
I don't want to sound like an advertisement for Vue Scan. (Moderators, please edit or remove this if you think it is inappropriate.)
I don't know the people who own the company or have any gain from recommending it. I just think you may get some enjoyment out of using their application instead of the Brother programs.
I hope this 'hybrid' wireless scanning & printing method is helpful to someone along the way!
Be Sure To Enjoy This Day!
Paul
