Scott is an evaluation specialist for non-profit groups and school interventions. He is also a skilled grant writer and has written successful grants for numerous non-profit agencies including the Economic and Social Opportunity, Inc. and the Bosnian American Association. He has done senior site advisory work for the Gates Foundation's Small School Reform Initiative. Prior to his work with Putnam, Scott was a Biotechnology Lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore where he taught and developed core curriculum in cell biology. He was also the academic advisor for the Green Nature Club and developed the first AIDS awareness program on a tertiary education campus.

Scott has written biology textbooks for the Government of Kenya where he spent a year lecturing in Biotechnology before returning to graduate school. He received his master's degree in International Comparative Education from Stanford University and earned a bachelor's degree in biology with and a minor in environmental science from Princeton University.