Professor Scott has received prizes from The Royal College of Physicians London, Glaxo Smith Kline, and Bristol Myers Squibb. He is Fellow of The Royal College of Physicians London. He was a founder member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, a Chartered Biologist and Fellow of the Institute of Biology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (The UK National Academy of Sciences). He is distinguished for the discovery of the totally novel mechanism of nucleic acid editing, a process concerned with cholesterol transport, antibody formation, protection against HIV and stem cell programming.

Professor Scott has discovered common genetic variation causing dyslipidaemia, heart disease and obesity. Current interests concern genetic and epigenetic mechanisms and systems biology studies in cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and preventive medicine. He has a particular interest in health and wellbeing in society, and longevity, through appetite control and motivation-based programmes, allied with biomarker and genetic prediction. This leads to a unifying approach for prediction and prevention of metabolic (obesity, insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), and cardiovascular disease (atherosclerosis and heart failure).