The Dictionary of National Biography states that Scott-James "possessed a strongly developed social conscience: this manifested itself at many different points in his career in activities which, if distinct from his literary gifts, at the same time enriched them" (872).
His surname was recorded as James at the time of his marriage on 26 November 1905 to Violet Eleonor Brooks.
His daughter, Violet Marie Livia born in July 1906 was registered with the surname Scott-James, as were subsequent children.
In 1914, Scott-James, then a close friend of Wyndham Lewis, became the editor of the New Weekly, which did not survive the outbreak of war later that year.
In 1934, Scott-James took over the editorship of the influential magazine, the London Mercury from J. C. Squire, in which he published many canonically recognized authors of modernism.