He has an older sister, Gwen Abbott, a former nationally ranked downhill ski racer and 3X Winter X Games competitor in skier cross.

[5] Following his win on the junior level at 2005 U.S. Championships, Abbott established a fund in Aspen, Colorado, to help up-and-coming skaters to pay for training.

Abbott began competing in singles at the novice level in the 2000–01 season, but failed to make it out of sectionals.

He fractured his L5 vertebra in 2003, which kept him off the ice for fifteen weeks[11] leading up to regionals, yet he was able to place seventh at the 2004 U.S. Championships.

Abbott was given his first senior international assignment in the 2005–06 Olympic season, placing eighteenth at the 2005 Nebelhorn Trophy.

Abbott then placed fifth at the Midwestern Sectionals and missed a chance to go to the 2006 U.S. Championships and compete for an Olympic berth.

Abbott later blamed his performance on his poor training habits,[1] and said that he had become lazy after winning the junior national title; failing to make it out of sectionals gave him the motivation he needed.

When Johnny Weir withdrew from the 2007 Four Continents Championships, Abbott was given the opportunity to compete at the event, which was held at his home rink, World Arena, Colorado Springs.

[12] In the 2007–08 season, Abbott debuted on the Grand Prix circuit, placing eighth at the 2007 Skate Canada and fourth at the 2007 NHK Trophy.

[13][12] At the 2009 U.S. Championships, Abbott won both the short program and the free skate to win the gold medal.

[12] At the 2009 World Championships, Abbot placed tenth in both the short program and free skate, and finished eleventh overall.

He then won the 2009 Skate Canada to qualify once again for the Grand Prix Final, where he placed fourth.

At the 2010 U.S. Championships, Abbott won both segments of the competition to win the title overall, finishing 25 points ahead of the second place Evan Lysacek.

[21] At the 2011 U.S. Championships, Abbott was second after the short program, but struggled through parts of his free skate to finish fourth overall.

The selection committee left him off the 2011 World Championships team, disappointing Abbott who thought the rules stated that other results would be taken into consideration.

Early in the season, he had a compressed disk in his lower back, which also caused nerve problems in his legs, but his condition began to improve by his next event in France.

[27][28] During an interview for "The Skating Lesson Podcast", Abbott told Jennifer Kirk that the 2013–14 season would be his last.

He finished sixth at his first Grand Prix assignment, the 2013 Skate Canada International, and won the bronze medal at the second, the 2013 NHK Trophy.

[36] In January 2016, he won gold at the 2016 Medal Winners Open, an ISU-sanctioned pro-am competition held in Japan.