After high school, he studied with Millard Sheets prior to enrolling in Harvard University.
In 1969, he was named planning officer of the National Gallery, where he served as liaison with architect I.M.
In 1990, Scott took over for 11 months as the acting director of the Corcoran, and arranged for new exhibitions while bringing stability to the gallery's finances.
His personal collection included largely Post-World War II painting, namely Abstracts.
He was known to be fond of Arshile Gorky, Stephen Sacklarian, and Millard Sheets, whom he took a class from, among other notable Contemporary Abstractionists.