Scale like that is not that rare on cycads, particularly Zamias... and fortunately pretty easy to rub off (you don't normally have to defoliate your plant with that species of scale)... but you need to treat your plant before it actually does some serious damage. Right now it's just unsightly and icky.

Thanks for the help. I thought it might be a scale but it just didn't look like other scale I've seen. I've already lost a couple of the plants and most of the rest look like this. What's the best treatment?

how do I get rid of scales and white

The coffee grounds link in the first post

Clean as much scale off as you can and since they are a sucking insect, use systemic insecticide that you put in the soil