In 2023, a young version of Scotty appeared in the final episode of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, portrayed by Martin Quinn.

[6] Doohan was cast as the Enterprise engineer for the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966) on the recommendation of that episode's director, James Goldstone, who had worked with him before.

[9] In a third-season production memo, Roddenberry said Doohan "is capable of handling anything we throw at him" and that the "dour Scot" works better when being protective of the ship's engines.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), he helps Kirk, Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) escape the brig and retake the hijacked Enterprise.

[3] Scotty kills Colonel West (René Auberjonois) before the latter can assassinate the Federation president (Kurtwood Smith) in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).

[3] Scotty joins Kirk and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) for the USS Enterprise-B's maiden voyage in Star Trek Generations (1994), saving the ship through his technical expertise.

[15] After serving aboard 11 starships in a career spanning 52 years and retiring at the age of 72 with the rank of Captain, Scotty was aboard a transport shuttle en route to a retirement colony when it crashed into a Dyson sphere; stranded, he set the transporter to cycle indefinitely and "stored" himself in the buffer for 75 years before being recovered by the USS Enterprise-D crew in "Relics".

In September 2007, Paul McGillion auditioned for the Scotty role in the 2009 Star Trek reboot and received James Doohan's son Chris's endorsement.

[17] Pegg's portrayal in the 2009 Star Trek reboot has Scotty stuck working at an isolated outpost as punishment for beaming Admiral Jonathan Archer's[18] prized beagle from one planet to the next — and having no idea where it ended up.

[4] The character of Scotty has an expanded role in the film Star Trek Beyond (written by Pegg and Doug Jung), in which he meets an alien woman named Jaylah, who leads him to the crashed Federation starship, the USS Franklin.

[19] A young Scotty, played by Scottish actor Martin Quinn, appears in the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode "Hegemony".

Doohan himself briefly reprised the role for a gag cameo in the action comedy Loaded Weapon 1 (1993), as well as being Scotty in the movie Knight Rider 2000 (1991), while parodies of Scotty or his accent appear in such media as World of Warcraft (2004), Spaceballs (1987),Tale Spin, Goof Troop, The Simpsons, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Beavis and Butt-Head and All That.