In 1879 he married Sarah Larribee (1851 – 1937), in Fort Robinson, Nebraska: in 1881 they settled down to ranch in Stanley County, Dakota Territory, just east of the present location of Philip, whose name memorializes the man who helped found it.

Philip was elected as a Democrat to the South Dakota State Senate in 1898, representing Stanley County and the 25th district from 1899 to 1900.

[1] While he was building his cattle herd, Scotty Philip met Pete Dupree, whose son Fred had rescued 5 bison calves from an 1881 buffalo hunt along the Grand River.

Philip prepared a special pasture for the bison along the western side of the Missouri River north of ere in 1901.

Scotty Philip died suddenly on July 23, 1911: by that time the herd had grown to approximately a thousand head.