[7] She was a research scientist at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, where she was involved in testing for the James Webb Space Telescope.

[9] She was part of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array (AMI-LA), using which she observed young stellar objects in the Perseus molecular cloud.

At Jodrell Bank, Scaife leads the design of the computing for the European SKA Regional Centre, through the big data project AENEAS.

[14][15] She runs two Science and Technology Facilities Council Newton Fund programs that offer bursaries for scientists from Southern Africa and Latin America.

[19] Scaife was part of a team of astrophysicists, including Jane Greaves, who identified nanodiamonds in three infant star systems, V892 Tau, HD 97048 and MWC 297 in the Milky Way.