In 1998, Scherer moved to Coral Springs, Florida. He swam at the 1998 World Aquatics Championships, in Perth, Australia, where he finished eighth in the 50-meter freestyle, 17th in the 100-meter freestyle and sixth in the 4×100-meter freestyle. In August in New York City, at the Goodwill Games, Scherer broke the South American record for the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.18 seconds, that would only be broken in 2007 by César Cielo. He also broke the 100-metre freestyle record with a time of 48.69 seconds, which was unbroken until 2006, also by Cielo. With that, Scherer attained first place in the world rankings in both events; he was awarded the title of "World's Best" by Swimworld magazine, and for the second time the best Brazilian athlete, by COB. At this time, the world record for the 50-meter freestyle was 21.81 seconds, set by Tom Jager; the 100-meter freestyle world record was 48.21 seconds, set by Alexander Popov.