THE BBC's James Cook is returning from his job in Washington to take up a role with BBC Scotland.
Cook will become chief news correspondent of the new BBC Scotland News at 9pm.
He will leave his role as BBC News correspondent for North America.
BBC Scotland business editor Douglas Fraser tweeted: "California back to Caledonia: @BBCJamesCook has had enough of wildfires, Hollywood red carpets and Trump. He’s to be chief news correspondent of the new @BBCScotlandNews at 9pm – though as that covers the world, he may go back occasionally."
California back to Caledonia: @BBCJamesCook has had enough of wildfires, Hollywood red carpets and Trump. He’s to be chief news correspondent of the new @BBCScotlandNews at 9pm - though as that covers the world, he may go back occasionally.
— Douglas Fraser (@BBCDouglasF) August 24, 2018
The new BBC Scotland TV channel will launch in February 2019.
Cook was a Scotland correspondent for the BBC during the 2014 independence referendum.
He received plaudits from Yes voters for standing up to Ruth Davidson amid a row over a Treasury leak.
Sensitive information about the Royal Bank of Scotland's proposals to "leave" Scotland in the event of a Yes vote was sent to journalists a week before the referendum.
The communication was issued while the bank's board met to discuss the matter, and before they had made a statement to financial markets, breaching trading rules.
The Sunday Herald later revealed that the Treasury civil servant who sent the leak was Robert Mackie, the son of Catherine MacLeod, who was special adviser to Better Together leader Alistair Darling when he was chancellor of the exchequer.
Appearing in a debate ahead of the 2014 vote, Davidson tried to reject claims it was a partisan move.
The Scottish Tory leader said: "The Treasury was responding directly to media requests. They were responding them with the best of the knowledge that they had, the Sun Newspaper had already..."
Cook interrupted Davidson to expose her claims as false.
The presenter said: "Just for the record, I received that email, and I didn't request it."
The annual budget of the new BBC Scotland TV channel will be £32 million, which critics have argued is too little.
The move is expected to lead to the creation of at least 140 jobs.
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