Learn Russian: Организатор может понести ответственность за этот скандал. - The organizer might bear responsibility for this scandal.

Понести ответственность (to bear responsibility) is a formal analytical predicate. In official, legal, or journalistic Russian, speakers often substitute a simple verb like ответить (to answer for / be responsible) with a verb-noun combination to sound more formal, objective, and institutional.

What does the verb понести literally mean, and why is it in the perfective aspect here?

Понести is the perfective form of нести, which literally means 'to carry'. While the imperfective нести ответственность means 'to be responsible' (an ongoing state), the perfective понести ответственность means 'to face the consequences' or 'to take the blame' as a specific, completed future event.

Why do we use за этот скандал in the accusative case here?

The noun ответственность (responsibility) requires the preposition за followed by the accusative case to express what the responsibility is for. Since скандал is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.

Why is может (imperfective) paired with понести (perfective)? Could we use the perfective сможет instead?

Может is used here to express a present possibility or probability ('might' or 'could'), while the action that might happen (понести) is a specific future event. If you used the perfective сможет, it would change the meaning to focus on having the future physical or logistical ability to do something ('will be able to'), which does not make sense when talking about facing a punishment.