At the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, Beaton produced a major upset by beating three-time defending champion Phil Taylor 16–14 in the quarter-finals, having trailed 9–13 and 11–14. Earlier in the week, Beaton had needed to defeat Paul Nicholson 5–3 or better at the round robin stage to stay in the tournament (he won 5–1), and followed that up with a 10–6 win over Ted Hankey who had himself defeated Taylor in his group. Beaton was defeated by eventual champion Scott Waites 16–9 in the semi-final. Despite his good form in 2010 he was narrowly defeated in the first round of the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship by Mark Hylton eventually losing by 3 sets to 2. The following year, Beaton recovered from two sets and three match darts down against Magnus Caris to win 3–2, but was beaten by Simon Whitlock 1–4 in the second round.