Trouble Taming/Backing Away

My partner and I bought our first bearded dragon 2 months ago (his name is Otto), we interacted with him as little as possible the first four weeks on advice of the reptile shop and started trying to handle/interact with him a month ago. At first we tried picking him up but he was struggling and seemed frightened (although he'd calm down for periods) he jumped off my hand the first time which was alarming so we have tried a softer approach; hand feeding, putting our hands in his viv for him to investigate and stroking his back. It seems that in general he's less scared but progress feels very slow compared to what other people have described and he will still often back away from us (although is never aggressive and doesn't run - I would call him cautious/wary rather than terrified).

It's really hard to know whether we're doing the right thing or not - some people seem to advise slowly building his confidence and others say you need to actively handle him to get him used to it. All the time he is getting bigger and (probably) harder to deal with if he does struggle when we pick him up.

I'm not worried about his conditions, the shop we got him from were local specialists and helped us make sure everything was set up correctly. He seems happy and content in there. He only seems nervous when we put our hands near him - he'll usually back away but he will gingerly put his front legs on our hands to take food.

Can anyone advise us on what our next steps should be? Should we carry on slowly or take the plunge and pick him up? If we do what's the best way to go about it - the recommended 'scoop' is hard to do when you have a dragon who backs away or struggles at first. I am a patient person and don't mind going as slow as he'd like - we just want to be his friend and not a scary bird!

EDIT: should have probably also mentioned he's a youngster - we're guessing about 7 months.

They are all a bit different and some of them just don't like handling as much as others. That said, there are things you can do that will help such as hand feeding. Other things you can try are holding him in the evening when he gets sleepy. He's likely to fall asleep on you and eventually learn you are safe. Don't be too pushy with that but it's worth a try and I've had luck with it. It's important to approach them from in front so they can see you and when you are holding them they like being stable so be sure to support his hands and feet. They also don't like the sensation of dropping so lower them slowly as well. The young guys tend to be very curious too so when he jumped from your hands he may have wanted to run off and explore. If you can set up a safe area in your house for him to roam (no small bits on the ground, no other animals, nothing heavy to fall on him etc) I think he may enjoy that too. Interacting outside of the tank might be easier for him.