The scattering of electromagnetic waves is a primary importance of the short wave fluctuation studies in the fusion research plasmas. Among the scattering diagnostics the CO2-laser one is favorable for a number of reasons. It is insensitive to refraction distortions, is capable of easy coupling with a plasma machines and much more cheaply compared to far infrared scattering technique. The current status the diagnostics based on the light mixture detection principle is considered in the report. This kind of diagnostics for plasma micro-turbulence investigation is mostly employed in toroidal magnetic systems. However its application for the same purpose in mirror plasmas may be perspective as well. Two options of CO2-laser scattering diagnostics developed for FT-2 tokamak are presented. There are distinguished by a kind of laser probing sources and ω-K regions of density fluctuations. The diagnostics capabilities are exemplified by the recent results of CO2-laser scattering experiments in the FT-2 tokamak. The perspectives of the CO2-laser scattering are analyzed for small-scale fluctuation study in open magnetic confinement systems.