Scholten worked as a civil servant for Tax and Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance from September 1951 until June 1963.

Scholten was selected as a Member of the European Parliament and dual served in those positions, taking office on 25 June 1973.

Scholten was appointed as Minister of Defence in the Cabinet Van Ag-Wiegel following the resignation of Roelof Kruisinga, taking office on 8 March 1978.

Scholten semi-retired after spending 34 years in national politics and became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Institute of International Relations Clingendael, Society for Statistics and Operations Research, Royal Library of the Netherlands, SEO Economic Research and the Carnegie Foundation) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Public Pension Funds PFZW, Statistics Netherlands and the Public Pension Funds APB).

Scholten continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 77 and holds the distinction as the second longest-serving Vice-President of the Council of State after World War II with 16 years, 273 days.