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Rebekah Brooks, a longtime protégée of Rupert Murdoch, is said to be in line to oversee the newspaper division in Britain.Credit Toby Melville/Reuters

Rebekah Brooks, the editor and publishing executive who four years ago became embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal in Britain, is set to return to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in a senior role, an executive with knowledge of the company’s plans said on Friday.

Ms. Brooks will oversee News UK, the division that publishes the newspapers The Times of London and The Sun, according to this person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. She will also have broader responsibilities that could include deal-making and various digital efforts, according to the person, though the final details of Ms. Brooks’s role could change.

Just over a year ago, Ms. Brooks was acquitted of charges related to phone hacking, in which journalists at News of the World and other Murdoch papers gained access to the voice mails of various people, including a murdered schoolgirl and members of the royal family, and were accused of bribing police and public officials.

James Kennedy, a News Corporation spokesman, said in an email on Friday, “As we’ve said before, we’ve been having discussions with Rebekah Brooks, and when we have any announcements to make, we’ll be sure to let you know.”

Ms. Brooks, 47, is a longtime Murdoch protégée, and in media circles her return to his company has been expected since her exoneration. In recent months she has been frequently seen at News Corporation’s headquarters in New York, and was even spotted at brunch with Mr. Murdoch in Brooklyn.

Her return would cap a remarkable career turnaround from the disgrace of the hacking scandal, and give Ms. Brooks a prominent role at the company. One job that had reportedly been considered for her in recent months was running Storyful, a News Corporation digital property. But her new position would give Ms. Brooks control over some of the most influential papers in Britain as well as a degree of power over some corporate deals.

News of her new role was first reported on Friday by The Financial Times.

After beginning her career as a secretary at News of the World, Ms. Brooks rose to be its editor and eventually chief executive of News International, and in her personal life she mingled with prime ministers and Britain’s power elite.

That position appeared to crumble as the phone-hacking scandal erupted in 2011 with the revelation that reporters at News of the World had hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old who in 2002 was abducted and murdered. The case crystallized long-simmering public complaints in Britain about a freewheeling and unaccountable tabloid press, and had immediate ramifications for News Corporation and the broader Murdoch clan.

Ms. Brooks and others, including Andy Coulson, a former spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron who had also once edited News of the World, faced charges including conspiracy, hiding evidence and bribing public officials for information. Ms. Brooks was cleared of those charges, but Mr. Coulson — who, she revealed in testimony, had once been her lover — was found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voice mail messages, and was given an 18-month jail sentence.

The phone-hacking scandal led to the closure of News of the World in 2011, after 168 years in print. Mr. Murdoch also abandoned plans to take over British Sky Broadcasting, now known as Sky UK. In 2013, News Corporation split into two companies: 21st Century Fox, which includes film and television assets, and News Corporation, whose properties include newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and the book publisher HarperCollins.

Ms. Brooks would be returning to News Corporation as the company’s stable of British newspapers is struggling to keep pace with local rivals, offset dwindling print circulations and counter a growing number of digital publications that are siphoning off readers.

The Sun, Britain’s most-read daily paper, has been challenged by The Daily Mail, another tabloid. Monthly circulation has also fallen at News Corporation’s weekly publications, The Sunday Times and The Sun on Sunday, according to industry statistics.

The company’s British newspapers have flirted with so-called online paywalls that allow only readers with paid subscriptions to have access to digital content. The efforts, however, have not been completely successful, and The Sun recently increased the amount of free content that online readers could get on its website.