As of 1901, Scott was working as a miner and later married and had three children. On 9 January 1915, five months after Britain's entry into the First World War, Scott enlisted as a private in the Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders). He was appointed lance corporal in November 1915 and was posted to the Western Front the following month, but he was quickly returned to Britain for a hernia operation. Scott returned to the front in March 1916 and was hospitalised with scabies two months later. After his recovery, Scott was killed in action on the Somme on 10 August 1916 and was buried in Gordon Dump Cemetery.