Scott married Katherine Nina Grant Smith in 1938. He served in the Second World War, being commissioned as a second lieutenant with the 4th County of London Yeomanry in September 1939. The Yeomanry was sent to the Middle East in early 1941 and from there was transferred to the Western Dersert in June 1942, where Scott saw action at the British defensive lines at Maabus er Rigel and was wounded when his tank was hit by enemy fire. Holding the rank of lieutenant by mid-1942, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in August 1942. He was mentioned in dispatches in December 1942 and assumed command of C Squadron in the Yeomanry in February 1943, at which point he held the temporary rank of captain. In April 1943, now an acting major, Scott took part in the Battle of Wadi Akarit, where his actions commanding tanks across a minefield saw him decorated with a bar to his Military Cross. During the latter stages of the North African campaign, troops commanded by Scott were among the first to enter Tunis during its capture.