Whirlpool Electric Dryer - Burn in motor wire harness

[Mumford67]

I replaced the dryer motor, belt, rollers and pulley on a Whirlpool electric dryer about 5 years ago. 

Recently, I could hear that the dryer rollers were starting to wear down (you could hear a scraping sound when the dryer was tumbling) and I was planning to replace these, but in the meantime, the dryer had continued to run fine. However, last week, the dryer ceased to be able to power on. Pressing the start button would not even generate a hum. 

 

I checked the regular culprits (door switch, the thermal fuse and the timer) and all tested well with a multimeter.  So I disassembled the dryer to check the motor. When I removed the drum, as expected, the drum rollers were worn down. However,  I should also note  that a lot of lint had found its way around the motor, drum, rollers, etc.  I vacuumed it out and got as much as I could away from the motor area. However, when I disconnected the wiring harness from the motor, I also noticed that the black and blue wire connections on the harness had burnt. 

The question is: could the lint that found its way in there and on to the motor have caused these connections to burn or is it likely the burning was caused by a short or some kind of failure in the motor?  I can buy a dryer repair kit with the new rollers, as well as a replacement harness.  Just need to know if I need to add a new motor to that shopping list as well.

Any guidance is appreciated.