Scott was born in San Francisco in 1948, was an exchange student in Germany, and attended U.C. Berkeley, where he found that "the abstract expressionism they were teaching then held no interest for me." Instead he studies languages, American studies, and political economy. It was not until 1980 that he earned an art degree from California State University. By then he had traveled through North America, the Middle East, and Europe, had published two books, and had been successfully selling his artworks at Fisherman's Wharf.

In 1973 Scott moved to Sonoma, where he opened his "Framery of Sonoma," a custom picture framing shop, art studio, and gallery, in a charming Victorian house in the wine country.