Dan Garret was the first character by the name of Blue Beetle, it all started when he found Scarab on a pyramid in Egypt. And he found that it gave him powers (better physical abilities), but when the character died in a story the writers invented a strange plot in which Scarab was always alien technology, but a magical event in Egypt made him a magical object. Ted was unable to use it because he was starting to return to normal, Jamie found him when he was normal again, and created armor around him as he should. The new 52 stated that Dan was a hero who just happened to use the name Blue Beetle, to simplify everything with him being the owner of the air vehicle with a beetle theme that in the original comics was Ted's, which in this version was not a super, just a scientist.
In other media
The producers of the cartoon "Batman The Brave and The Bold" used the character, but as they didn't explain the story, then it was confusing: the cartoon established that he wore a superhero outfit just like Ted (and not a superhero armor).
The producers of the Young Justice cartoon, were more creative, said that Scarab could not completely form the armor on Dan and because of that he wore a superhero disguise.