It was mainly responsible for infiltrating the black majority population of Rhodesia and collecting intelligence on insurgents so that they could be attacked by regular elements of the security forces.

The methods used by the unit led to the deaths of large numbers of insurgents, but proved counter-productive as they further alienated the black majority population from the white minority Rhodesian government and increased international opposition to the regime.

Following the disbandment of the Selous Scouts after Rhodesia's transition to Zimbabwe, many of its members were recruited into the Apartheid-era South African security forces.

If local civilians learn that the security forces are posing as insurgents and using this as cover to break the law, the tactics can be counter-productive as they will erode support for the government.

The Rhodesian Army took part in a joint trial using these tactics with the British South Africa Police and Special Branch that year, but it was not successful for at that stage the black population was largely indifferent to the insurgents and so not able to provide intelligence on them.

[14] The name Selous Scouts had previously been attached to the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment of the Federal Army of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

[16] Many South African Defence Force personnel served in the Selous Scouts between 1973 and 1979, including during operations in Rhodesia, Mozambique and Zambia.

[19] A Reconnaissance Troop was formed in the second half of 1976 to conduct scouting operations in Mozambique and Zambia; this unit had a peak strength of twelve men.

The Selous Scouts continued to deliver training in tracking and trackers for the remainder of the war, with this forming a cover for the unit's actual role.

The Tracker Combat Unit was made up of white reservists; while these men were not suitable for Selous Scouts operations, they were retained to help provide cover.

[9] Ahead of the multi-racial 1980 Southern Rhodesian general election the Selous Scouts and SAS were involved in preparing plans to annul its results.

[26] Following the transition to majority rule and Rhodesia's reconstitution as Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Robert Mugabe decided in March 1980 to disband the Selous Scouts by April that year.

The 900 black members of the unit were offered other positions within Zimbabwe's security forces, and were mainly split across three battalions of the Rhodesian African Rifles.

[25][34] The Selous Scouts and other Rhodesian special forces continued to report directly to Walls for military purposes after he became the Commander of Combined Operations in 1977.

[25] 'Freezing' areas generally proved operationally successful, but there were several occasions in which the security forces inadvertently attacked and killed Selous Scouts.

[49] Special Branch provided the Selous Scouts with poisoned clothing, food, beverages and medicines that the unit inserted into the guerrilla supply chains.

This formed part of broader flaws in the Rhodesian counter-insurgency strategy, and the historian Jakkie Cilliers has written that "the Selous Scouts were merely the instruments of an overly aggressive and punitive strategy, simply directed at killing as many insurgents as possible and punishing the rural black population to force them to desist from support for the insurgent forces.

[53] On August 9, 1976, the Selous Scouts carried out Operation Eland, a raid on a ZANLA and FRELIMO controlled refugee camp at Nyadzonia in Mozambique.

The Selous Scouts, who were mostly black and disguised in FRELIMO uniforms, included former Portuguese Army soldiers and a former ZANLA commander.

They further wrote in 2010, that "although nearly all the personnel in the camp were unarmed, many were trained guerillas or undergoing instruction" and that documents captured from ZANLA, revealed more than 1,028 were killed in the operation.

Pressure from South Africa led Prime Minister Smith to accept the principle of black majority rule in Rhodesia in September 1976.

Selous Scout teams at times attacked Rhodesian Security Forces units and white farms in attempts to persuade local civilians that they were actually insurgents.

By 1975 some of the prisoners who were held at the Selous Scouts' secret detention centre at Mount Darwin were being used by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) for human testing of chemical and biological weapons.

[72] According to former CIO Officer Henrik Ellert, an incident where Selous Scouts poisoned a well with unknown substances in an area of heavy rebel activity near Rhodesia's border with Mozambique killed 200 civilians.

Paul L. Moorcraft and Peter McLaughlin argued in 1982 that the Selous Scouts' "notoriety for treachery and brutality was only partly deserved, for the bulk of its members were engaged on routine military tasks".

He noted that the unpopularity of the Rhodesian regime resulting from its colonial and racist policies meant that accusations made against the unit were widely believed.

[31][76] This formed part of an effort by the SADF to recruit white veterans of Rhodesian counter-insurgency units that was designated Operation Winter.

[81] The South African Police's Vlakplaas paramilitary hit squad that was established in 1979 was also inspired by the Selous Scouts,[82] as was the Civil Cooperation Bureau that was formed in 1986.

[89] In 2018 The New York Times reported that glorification of the Selous Scouts formed part of online nostalgia for Rhodesia and had been taken up by far-right movements that were sympathetic to the white Rhodesian regime.

[90] In 2021, the newly established Ranger Regiment in the British Army adopted a cap badge that was similar in appearance to the Selous Scouts' and may have been based on it.