Cutting the Scotogenic Loop: \(A_4\) Flavor Symmetry to  \(Z_2\) Dark Symmetry

“Scotogenic” Model is a very popular model to explain the dark matter (DM) stability along with the neutrino mass generation in a very simple and elegant way. However, in this model an ad-hoc \(Z_2\) symmetry is needed to explain the DM stability and it does not shed any light on the flavor structure of neutrino. Thus for the explanation of the flavor structure of neutrino, one has to add another symmetry apart from the \(Z_2\) symmetry in the scotogenic model. Here, we show how dark symmetry and flavor structure of neutrino can be explained just by adding only one symmetry on top of the Standard Model symmetry. We have added \(A_4\) flavor symmetry which is able to describe the flavor structure of neutrino and the breaking of \(A_4\) into its subgroup \(Z_2\) will explain the DM stability. In this work, neutrino mass is generated through the scoto loop and seesaw mechanism. We show that the model successfully explains the DM phenomenology along with the latest neutrino oscillation data. Also, our model provides testable prediction for the neutrino-less double beta \((0 \nu \beta \beta )\) decay experiments.