He formed a close friendship with Alexander Murray and Dr. John Leyden, and with their help gained a knowledge of a number of Asian languages.
Through the influence of John Marjoribanks, however, some of whose sons had been his pupils, he obtained the parish living of Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, to which he was presented on 22 August and ordained on 17 November 1814.
When on a visit to Edinburgh to attend the meeting of the British Association, he was seized with dropsy, and died on 18 September 1834.
[1] Besides editing Murray's posthumously-published History of the European Languages, Scot was author of:[1] He also wrote a Hebrew grammar (published 1834) for the use of his class.
[1] As a member of the Wernerian Natural History Society, he contributed essays on the zoology of the Bible, particularly in volume VI of their proceedings.