That's actually incorrect, if you scrap a ship/orbital at a colony (or maybe an outpost, haven't tried), you get 1/3 of the resources for it back. I don't remember if I was scrapping ships or orbitals at the time, but decided to test it out (I think I was scrapping energy arrays to build more ships), looked at my resources before and after scrapping, as I said, looked like I was getting 1/3 back at the planet.
Edit: I'm assuming if you scrap elsewhere, you indeed get nothing.