[1] It has been described as capturing "the dark days of that winter of discontent with an energy and immediacy, lost by subsequent more dispassionate accounts.

[4][5] Scott was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to historical research, in the 2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours,[6] and in 2007 he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement (Non-Fiction).

[4] In 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Massey University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences in recognition of the influence of his historical research and writing.

As historian Jock Phillips said of Scott: "although he had not met a Māori person until the age of 20 and did not know te Reo, he recognised injustice immediately when he came across it and became convinced the story should be told.

[7] In 2011, Scott made headlines when he auctioned a Don Binney painting that he had owned for almost 50 years, and donated the NZD $300,000 proceeds to the Christchurch earthquake appeal.