An interim company, Creative Scotland 2009, was set up to assist the transition from the existing organisations.

[3][4] In March 2011, Creative Scotland was debated in the Scottish Parliament after suspicious expenditure, such as the funding of £58,000 to finance a dance programme based on the works of Alfred Hitchcock and a trip to Tonga to study Polynesian dancing, was uncovered.

[5][6] In January 2015, the organization was lambasted by filmmakers for offering less than half of the money required to a blockbuster film The Rezort wishing to shoot in Scotland, which resulted in the production moving to Wales.

[7][8] In June 2018 Janet Archer resigned as chief executive of Creative Scotland after joining the organisation in July 2013.

[10] Notable critics of Creative Scotland in the Scottish arts world include Liz Lochhead,[11] Don Paterson,[12] Ian Rankin, Andrea Gibb, David Greig,[13] John Byrne, Alasdair Gray and James Kelman.