title: Can Java methods return type Enum?
body: <p>I could be wrong but I'm guessing from <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/700831/java-local-enums">Why can&#39;t enums be declared locally in a method?</a>
   that, since an enum in Java cannot be declared locally, that therefore it is problematic for a method to return type Enum?  I can declare that a method should return an Enum (see below) but how would one then go about implementing such a method to return anything other than null, or a reference to an Enum declared outside the method?  My first inclination would be to investigate using Generics for this but I'd like to avoid any deadends if the SO community can help me avoid them.</p>
  
  <pre><code>private Enum resources() {
      return null;
  }
  </code></pre>