Mixing discovery writing and outlining

Yesterday I was watching a video about discovery writing, i.e., writing without outlining: the writer does not know a priori how the story will unfold - the story is being "discovered" as it is being written. 

I used this technique at school, without realizing it, to write short stories, and it is very satisfying. But the problem with discovery writing is that you may not get a good finalization for the story - which is highly unsatisfying. However, many writers do discovery writing because it is the one that resembles the most the process of reading. You can hear discoverer writers say, "if I know the end, why would I want to write the story?"

Outliners, on the other hand, are on the other side of the spectrum: they have a clear structure of the book divided into scenes and what happens in each scene. The full plot is known before writing, so you can make sure that everything is coherent and has a satisfying ending. However, the drawback of outlining is that for many it kills creativity and the joy of writing, precisely because you must know beforehand what happens in the story.

I wrote a first draft of a novel using a full outline, and I agree that it was a bit dull. I also wrote a long story with discovery writing and I had no way to conclude the story in any reasonable way.

Where is the middle point between discovering and outlining so that we get the best of both approaches? Is it even possible? I am going to try a course where there is no outlining, but there is structure (a series of steps to follow). If I manage to stick to the 12-week program, I will let you know how it goes.

On another note, do outlining and discovery writing have anything to do with academic writing? Interpreted in the correct way, yes, they have a lot to do: the combination of both is key to the evolution of scientific ideas. When writing an article, I always plan in advance its structure, contents, and message. Planning takes a while and it helps to understand better the work that we have produced. At the same time, while writing, it sometimes feels like I am making a discovery: just by verbalizing what I have learned, I see it in a different light, and, moreover, many times thanks to this process I have been able to make new connections and find new interpretations of the results. Not only that, when I start writing, I discover which statements are not clear in my mind; how strong (or weak) my arguments are; which gaps have gone under the radar. The point is: even though a priori I have all the information before starting to write, I actually do quite a bit of discovery through the process of writing.