Scout Ship AI

I am curious if anyone else has this issue and if there is a suggested solution.  Early on in the game, I grind out half a dozen or more scout ships to explore my local area.  Mainly, i send them to the four corners of the map and then let them "Auto Explore".  However, invariably, 20 turns or so along, I find clumps of them all searching the same area of space.

Is there a way to make the scout ships actually search different areas without micro-managing them? 

Now, I know that I can switch them over to survey once I get the survey modules researched, but that is a lower priority to my gaming strategy.  And it doesn't give me a full view of the local terrain as it were.  I end up with huge gaps in the map because there weren't any anomalies to salvage.

Anyway, thanks for reading.