It would be a disaster if we allowed all that know-how to be scattered to the four winds.
Related vocabulary: the four corners of the earth
to the (four) wind(s)
In all or many different directions. After the company went bankrupt, our team was scattered to the wind.All my friends dispersed to the four winds after high school, so I don't have any strong desire to return.
to the four winds
Across a wide area. Said of something that has been dispersed. Our family has been scattered to the four winds now that all of our kids are in college in different states.