The paper was founded in 1992 by James P. Reza, Greg Ryan and Robert Ringle as a free monthly publication called Scope Magazine covering Southern Nevada's culture, arts, music and lifestyle from a decidedly Generation X perspective.

[2] Distributed freely throughout the greater Las Vegas area at bars, cafes, record stores, and other retail outlets, Scope published its first monthly issue in April 1992, featuring a familiar format of band interviews, news features, columns, a venue guide, and a 30-day calendar of music and arts events, presented in the New Journalism style and geared toward alternative culture.

The 2021 documentary Parkway of Broken Dreams (directed by Pj Perez) highlights the rise and fall of that alternative culture in Las Vegas, including interviews with Reza and multiple Scope staffers.

Anticipating the forthcoming decline of "alternative culture" and wishing to broaden the paper's reach and coverage, in 1996 Reza partnered with Daniel Greenspun, forming a new company (Radiant City Publications LLC) to publish Scope.

During this partnership, Reza continued on as Managing Editor, expanding the paper's coverage to a more traditional alternative newsweekly style, and accelerating the publishing schedule to biweekly.