There is, it's in the DMG, one second... let me find you the page....
Okay, so: DMG Pg 139, 'Section Magic Item Categories', sub section 'Scrolls'
The most prevalent type of scroll is the spell scroll, a spell stored in written form, but some scrolls, like the scroll of protection, bear an incantation that isn't a spell. Whatever its contents, a scroll is a roll of.. [a brief description of types of visual scrolls follows].
A scroll [note, a 'scroll', not a 'spell scroll', this insert is mine, but the distinction is important, and is demarcated by the italicised or otherwise use of the phrase in 5e writing style. You'll have to trust me that this is established style practice, and the distinction is deliberate, intended and not frivolous] is a consumable magic item. Unleashing the magic in a scroll requires using an action to read the scroll. When its magic has been invoked, the scroll can't be used again. Its words fad,e or it crumbles into dust. Unless a scroll's description says otherwise, any creature that can understand a written language can read the script on a scroll and attempt to activate it.
Then we have the separate entry for
spell scroll, which is a different category of item.
DMG pg 200, "Spell Scroll"
A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written in a mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class’s spell list, you can read the scroll and cast its spell without providing any material components. Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible. Casting the spell by reading the scroll requires the spell’s normal casting time. Once the spell is cast, the words on the scroll fade, and it crumbles to dust. If the casting is interrupted, the scroll is not lost.
If the spell is on your class’s spell list but of a higher level than you can normally cast, you must make an ability check using your spellcasting ability to determine whether you cast it successfully. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level. On a failed check, the spell disappears from the scroll with no other effect.
Once the spell is cast, the words on the scroll fade, and the scroll itself crumbles to dust.
The level of the spell on the scroll determines the spell’s saving throw DC and attack bonus, as well as the scroll’s rarity, as shown in the Spell Scroll table.
[Spell scroll rarity table follows]
A wizard spell on a spell scroll can be copied just as spells in spellbooks can be copied. When a spell is copied from a spell scroll, the copier must succeed on an Intelligence (Arcana) check with a DC equal to 10 + the spell’s level. If the check succeeds, the spell is successfully copied. Whether the check succeeds or fails, the spell scroll is destroyed.
The distinction is made clearly enough, but for one not used to 5e style, it would be easy to not check and just stop reading at the entry on Scrolls, without checking what
spell scrolls were for comparison. In case of confusion, though, you default to the core ruling philosophy for 5e, which is that specific beats general - in this case, scrolls are generally defined a certain way, but spell scrolls are defined as a specific case within that, and follow their own rules.
