Born in Munich in 1934; he is a lawyer by profession; after civil service in the Bavarian Ministry of Finance he was nominated General Counsel and Legal Director of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation in 1965; in addition he became Deputy Director General in 1973 and in 1990 has been elected Director General (CEO) himself. In this office he remained - re-elected twice - until the end of 2001, when he decided to retire.
In the European Broadcasting Union he first served as Chairman of the Legal Committee from 1973 to 1982. Then, from 1983 to 2000 - re-elected nine times - he served as President of this Association of 70 national broadcasters in 50 European countries.
In the academic sphere Scharf had been lecturing media law at Munich University and at the Munich Academy for Television and Film of which he is headmaster, and has been for decades.
He is honorary professor for media law and received an honorary doctorate in political sciences for his contributions to social communications and mass media theory and practice.