Fade Object Out On Scene Change

I have this script that I can't seem to get to work for fading out a rotating game object logo just before the scene changes.

Note: Updated code. I notice a very strange thing happening, the code seems to create a duplicate material in the inspector on the fade out operation, and only fades out the outer ring of my 3D logo even though it is part of the same mesh object. And yet if I manually adjust the alpha of the game object material it fades out perfectly so I have no clue what is going on there.??

  using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class ObjectFader : MonoBehaviour {
 
 
     // publically editable speed
     public float fadeDelay = 0.0f; 
     public float fadeTime = 0.5f; 
     public bool fadeInOnStart = false; 
     public bool fadeOutOnStart = false;
     private bool logInitialFadeSequence = false; 
 
 
 
 
     // store colours
     private Color[] colors; 
 
     // allow automatic fading on the start of the scene
     IEnumerator Start ()
     {
         //yield return null; 
         yield return new WaitForSeconds (fadeDelay); 
 
         if (fadeInOnStart)
         {
             logInitialFadeSequence = true; 
             FadeIn (); 
         }
 
         if (fadeOutOnStart)
         {
             FadeOut (fadeTime); 
         }
     }
 
 
 
 
     // check the alpha value of most opaque object
     float MaxAlpha()
     {
         float maxAlpha = 0.0f; 
         Renderer[] rendererObjects = GetComponentsInChildren<Renderer>(); 
         foreach (Renderer item in rendererObjects)
         {
             maxAlpha = Mathf.Max (maxAlpha, item.material.color.a); 
         }
         return maxAlpha; 
     }
 
     // fade sequence
     IEnumerator FadeSequence (float fadingOutTime)
     {
         // log fading direction, then precalculate fading speed as a multiplier
         bool fadingOut = (fadingOutTime < 0.0f);
         float fadingOutSpeed = 1.0f / fadingOutTime; 
 
         // grab all child objects
         Renderer[] rendererObjects = GetComponentsInChildren<Renderer>(); 
         if (colors == null)
         {
             //create a cache of colors if necessary
             colors = new Color[rendererObjects.Length]; 
 
             // store the original colours for all child objects
             for (int i = 0; i < rendererObjects.Length; i++)
             {
                 colors[i] = rendererObjects[i].material.color; 
             }
         }
 
         // make all objects visible
         for (int i = 0; i < rendererObjects.Length; i++)
         {
             rendererObjects[i].enabled = true;
         }
 
 
         // get current max alpha
         float alphaValue = MaxAlpha();  
 
 
         // This is a special case for objects that are set to fade in on start. 
         // it will treat them as alpha 0, despite them not being so. 
         if (logInitialFadeSequence && !fadingOut)
         {
             alphaValue = 0.0f; 
             logInitialFadeSequence = false; 
         }
 
         // iterate to change alpha value 
         while ( (alphaValue >= 0.0f && fadingOut) || (alphaValue <= 1.0f && !fadingOut)) 
         {
             alphaValue += Time.deltaTime * fadingOutSpeed; 
 
             for (int i = 0; i < rendererObjects.Length; i++)
             {
                 Color newColor = (colors != null ? colors[i] : rendererObjects[i].material.color);
                 newColor.a = Mathf.Min ( newColor.a, alphaValue ); 
                 newColor.a = Mathf.Clamp (newColor.a, 0.0f, 1.0f);                 
                 rendererObjects[i].material.SetColor("_Color", newColor) ; 
             }
 
             yield return null; 
         }
 
         // turn objects off after fading out
         if (fadingOut)
         {
             for (int i = 0; i < rendererObjects.Length; i++)
             {
                 rendererObjects[i].enabled = false; 
             }
         }
 
 
         Debug.Log ("fade sequence end : " + fadingOut); 
 
     }
 
 
     void FadeIn ()
     {
         FadeIn (fadeTime); 
     }
 
     void FadeOut ()
     {
         FadeOut (fadeTime);         
     }
 
     void FadeIn (float newFadeTime)
     {
         StopAllCoroutines(); 
         StartCoroutine("FadeSequence", newFadeTime); 
     }
 
     void FadeOut (float newFadeTime)
     {
         StopAllCoroutines(); 
         StartCoroutine("FadeSequence", -newFadeTime); 
     }
 
 
     // These are for testing only. 
     //        void Update()
     //        {
     //            if (Input.GetKeyDown (KeyCode.Alpha0) )
     //            {
     //                FadeIn();
     //            }
     //            if (Input.GetKeyDown (KeyCode.Alpha9) )
     //            {
     //                FadeOut(); 
     //            }
     //        }
 
     
 }