You can't use a CRT to make an oscilloscope directly, as it won't deflect fast enough to view any waveforms over 100 kHz or so. Monitors and TVs with CRTs use magnetic deflection to get high deflection angles, making the tube short from front to back. However the inductance of the deflection coils makes high deflection rates impossible.
Analogue oscilloscopes use electrostatic deflection, which allows much faster waveforms to be viewed, but the deflection angle is low, so that the CRTs are very long.
Of course, a digital oscilloscope can use a slower display.