[3] As her time at the Chouinard Art Institute ended, its director, Vern Caldwell, urged Scott to apply for work with Walt Disney, based on her passion for animals.

She was initially uninterested due to the cartoon shorts the company was known for, but Caldwell recommended her to work on Bambi, a full film which was in production.

[2] Her sketches caught the eye of Disney, so when the film went into production she was assigned to animate scenes of hunting dogs chasing Faline.

[9] Though the most recognized Walt Disney female artist is Mary Blair, it is Retta Scott who opened up the doors for women in the animation industry.

[4] She also made an appearance in The Reluctant Dragon, and worked independently with colleague Woolie Reitherman on a cancelled children's book called B-1st.

[16][17] Her work caught the attention of past and current Disney employees, including Jonas Rivera, producer of Up, who commented, “I’ve always loved the Retta Scott Cinderella because it doesn’t look like the movie, but somehow it feels like the movie.”[18] Retta and her husband divorced in 1978, and she remained an active illustrator until she was again hired as an animator in 1982 for the Luckey-Zamora Moving Picture Company.