In late 1945, at age 33, he was appointed the first full-time chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Dunton was widely commended for the tact and intelligence with which he had overseen the development of CBC television.

Marc Thibault who directed the News and Public Affairs (1968-1981) at Société Radio-Canada (CBC French Network), built on Davidson Dunton's vision to bring qualitative and quantitative rigour (formative and summative evaluation) in assessing coast-to-coast equity and content impartiality, especially during federal and provincial elections.

He was appointed by Prime Minister Lester Pearson co-chairman, (with André Laurendeau), of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in 1963, which has profoundly influenced federal government language policies.

He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada and received honorary diplomas from seven Canadian universities.