A former midfielder, he is widely known for his fourteen-year tenure with Celtic, where he was club captain for eleven years and won ten Scottish league championships.

[5][6][7] Former Rangers and Scotland player Jim Baxter was also born in the village and a statue to him stands across the road from the house Brown grew up in.

[8] His mother Heather would regularly take Scott to Hibernian training sessions in Edinburgh and Motherwell, where he was coached by Gordon Rae and Keith Wright, among others.

[26] Brown handed in a transfer request to the Hibernian assistant manager, Tommy Craig, after their home game against Dundee United on 2 December 2006.

[27] Scotland manager Walter Smith criticised Brown and teammate Kevin Thomson for not showing enough responsibility in their dealings with Hibs, given that they had both recently agreed contracts with the club.

[46] Due to this suspension, manager Gordon Strachan chose a midfield pairing of Barry Robson and Paul Hartley for the final weeks of the season.

[59] Brown underwent surgery during pre-season in an attempt to rectify his ankle problem, but this didn't work, and he played matches despite not being fully fit.

The 1–0 home defeat by Hamburg on 22 October 2009 was Brown's last action of the year,[61] as Celtic initially chose to rest him in another effort to heal the ankle injury.

[82][83] Two days after the match, Brown then stated that he considered their altercations to be "just a bit of banter" which he regularly encountered on the pitch and that the yellow card he received for his celebration was the best of his life.

[85] Brown was booked in Celtic's penultimate league game against Kilmarnock, which caused him to go over the disciplinary points threshold and receive a suspension for the first two matches of the 2011–12 season.

[92] Due to his SPL suspension incurred at the end of the 2010–11 season, Brown's first match of the new campaign was Scotland's 2–1 win over Denmark on 10 August.

On 1 October 2013, in Celtic's second UEFA Champions League match of the group stage against Barcelona, Brown kicked out at Neymar and was sent off in the 59th minute.

[106] He scored a goal in his first full game after injury, a 2–2 draw in a Europa League group match against FC Red Bull Salzburg.

[117] On 2 December 2018, Brown came off the bench as Celtic defeated Aberdeen in the 2018 Scottish League Cup Final to claim seven consecutive domestic trophies.

[122] On 31 January 2019, Brown declined an offer to join new Australian team Western Melbourne FC and other approaches from abroad, instead extending his contract with Celtic until summer 2021, indicating that when it ended he would probably retire from playing.

[132] The SFA charged Brown with "failing to act in the best interest of Scottish football" for his actions at the final whistle, but at the hearing on 26 April, the verdict was not proven.

[134][135] He received a straight red card after coming on from the bench for striking Livingston player Jaze Kabia, in a 2–2 draw on 20 January 2021.

[148][149] Brown made his competitive debut for Scotland in March 2007, coming on as a substitute for Gary Teale during a Euro 2008 qualifying match against Georgia.

[25] Brown then became a regular pick for the national team; he started in Scotland's 1–0 victory over 2006 World Cup runners-up France at the Parc des Princes in September 2007.

[158][159] Brown was suggested as a possible captain for the 2011 Nations Cup match against Northern Ireland, in the absence of Darren Fletcher,[160] but Levein decided to give the armband to Kenny Miller instead.

[163] He played in four 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification games,[164] and was appointed captain by new Scotland manager Gordon Strachan in February 2013 following incumbent Darren Fletcher's bouts with illness.

[170] Following his departure from Celtic in 2021, Brown signed with fellow Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen as a player-coach, working as assistant manager to Stephen Glass in addition to his role on the field.

[172] Brown would depart Aberdeen the following month, citing a desire to pursue coaching opportunities elsewhere; he retired from playing in May 2022 and thus moved into full-time management.

[52] When analysing the 2007 SPFA team of the year, BBC Sport described Brown's "skilful, energetic running" as being integral to Hibs' "fluent" style of play.

As well as not being able to channel his aggression into a more productive manner, he has also been criticised for his disciplinary record due to his tough tackling style and his lack of goalscoring since joining Celtic.

Matters came to a head when Brown scored Celtic's equaliser, then turned round in front of Diouf with his arms outstretched and stared directly at the Rangers player.

[187][188] In August 2015, The Daily Record reported complaints from Qarabağ's Gara Garayev that several Celtic players mocked them during a Champions League qualifying, with Brown described as being "the worst".

[191] The following month, Aberdeen's Sam Cosgrove was sent off for a reckless tackle on Brown, to which he reacted by jumping to his feet and 'strutting' towards the crowd while laughing to demonstrate his toughness.

[192] Before the end of the campaign, Brown received two foul challenges in which the perpetrator appeared to deliberately stamp on his groin area: Andrew Davies of Ross County was ordered off at the time, with Brown stating "I didn't want more kids anyway" but later adding that "Stamping on opponents when the ball is nowhere near you is definitely not being a hard man or going into a hard tackle";[193] the referee took no action against Steven Naismith of Hearts at the time,[194] but the Scotland forward was later banned by the SFA.

His actions during and after an important league match against Rangers[124][130][131] that Celtic won to virtually secure the title drew the attention of both the police[132] and the football authorities – although ultimately he was not sanctioned with any offence.