He earned his card for the 2001 European Tour season in just eight starts as a professional, his best result being a tie for sixth at the Linde German Masters.

Later in the year, Scott won the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship, shooting a final round of 63 to win by ten shots.

He had previously beaten Bernhard Langer, Rocco Mediate, Kevin Sutherland, and Jay Haas en route to the semis, then defeated fellow Australian Peter Lonard 1 up in the consolation match.

In August 2003, Scott won his fourth European Tour title at the Scandinavian Masters by two strokes over Nick Dougherty.

[6] At the end of the year he made his first appearance on the International team at the Presidents Cup in South Africa, contributing three points out of five, en route to a 17–17 tie.

Scott won the flagship event of the tour, The Players Championship; He had a two-stroke lead on the 72nd tee, but found the water hazard with his approach to the green.

[9] Early in 2005 he won the Nissan Open, but as the tournament was shortened to 36 holes due to heavy rain, it is not recognised as an official victory.

Sharing the halfway lead with Chad Campbell, they played off to determine the winner, with Scott winning on the first playoff hole.

[11][12][13] Several months later, Scott won his fifth European Tour title with victory at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Beijing, China.

After hitting his tee shot into the water on the 72nd hole, he made a 48-foot par putt to seal a three stroke victory over Stuart Appleby and Bubba Watson.

In January 2008 he started off the year in fine style by winning his sixth career title on the European Tour at the Qatar Masters.

In 19 events on the PGA Tour, he missed the cut 10 times, with his only top 10 finish coming at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January.

Despite a quiet couple of years Scott won his seventh career PGA Tour title at the Valero Texas Open in May 2010, prevailing in a 36 hole long Sunday to finish one stroke ahead of Swede Freddie Jacobson.

The two enjoyed their first win together on 7 August 2011 when Scott triumphed at the 2011 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, earning him his first career World Golf Championship and eighth title overall on both of the main tours.

He beat Luke Donald and Rickie Fowler by four strokes after a bogey-free final round of 65, becoming the 20th different player to win a World Golf Championship event.

At the final hole, needing a birdie to win or a par to get into a playoff with Els, Scott found a bunker off the tee and his ball ended up tight underneath the lip.

"[23] With his second-place finish, Scott equalled his best ever performance at a major championship, alongside his tied second at the 2011 Masters and he returned to the world's top 10, at number six.

The following week, Scott was again in the mix at the PGA Championship, entering the final round in the penultimate grouping, four shots behind the leader Rory McIlroy.

On 18 November, Scott fired a bogey-free final round at Kingston Heath in the Melbourne Sandbelt, to win the Australian Masters for the first time.

In the following WGC-Cadillac Championship, Scott fired the low round of the week on the final day to jump from T19 to T3 behind Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker.

[26] At the 2013 Masters Tournament, Scott emerged from the chasing pack on the final day to enter into a tie for the lead heading into the 72nd hole.

At the first event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, The Barclays, Scott finished with a 66 (−5) final round to win over four players by one stroke and move to number two in the World Ranking, a career high.

In October, Scott won the 2013 PGA Grand Slam of Golf event in which the four major winners of that year compete.

The following week Scott would garner victory in the team portion of ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf, with fellow Australian Jason Day.

He led by one stroke going into the final hole but a bogey by Scott and a birdie by McIlroy saw a two shot swing and victory to the Northern Irishman.

He then followed this up during February 2016, with another runner-up placing at the Northern Trust Open, where despite a final hole chip-in birdie, he finished a shot behind winner Bubba Watson.

A notable footnote to Scott's victory was also that he became the first player to make a quadruple bogey on the weekend and win the tournament, since Phil Mickelson at the 2009 Tour Championship.

[40] In February 2020, he claimed his first title on the PGA Tour in nearly four years, winning the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.

[43] Scott is the touring professional at the Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club, where he resides while in Australia, located on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play NT = no tournament "T" = tied Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.