From maven documentation:
provided This is much like compile, but indicates you expect the JDK
or a container to provide the dependency at runtime. For example, when
building a web application for the Java Enterprise Edition, you would
set the dependency on the Servlet API and related Java EE APIs to
scope provided because the web container provides those classes. This
scope is only available on the compilation and test classpath, and is
not transitive.
I checked this works for me in maven 3.0.3. Had the same issue that i needed to have a servlet dependency while compilation and test but not compiled in because it ships with the application server distribution.