Dr Scott is the Australian authority in modern breeding research for several horticultural industries. He has established strong breeding programs for the macadamia, citrus, cashew and mango industries. These programs are collaborative between CSIRO, state agencies, universities and industry. The first selections for commercialisation in each of these crops are now on trial. He is leading the establishment of a Mango Flowering Treatment which has increased the value and reliability of the crop in the Northern Territory. In viticulture, his early introduction of molecular genetics to the industry established an international grapevine DNA typing service. He has an international reputation for his research, establishing a function for chloroplast DNA and demonstrating the movement of DNA sequences between cell organelles.