Scott has spent more than 30 years working on human rights, refugee, and migration issues, serving in a variety of positions with the U.S. government and international organizations. Scott has a distinguished career of public service in human rights. For the last decade, he has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the U.S. Department of State, where he has overseen at various times the bureau’s work on the East Asia and the Pacific region, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, multilateral issues, business and human rights, labor issues, and human rights-based sanctions. Scott also served for an extended period as Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, during which time he managed the bureau’s budget, personnel, and programs.

Scott did two stints as a director on human rights and refugee issues at the National Security Council (1997-2000 and 2009-2011), directed the Office of Policy and Resource Planning at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in the Department of State (2001-2005), and worked as a lawyer and asylum officer with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Scott also has served with two international organizations: first as a lawyer at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Washington, D.C. (1992-1995) and second as Coordinator of the Intergovernmental Consultations on Refugees, Migration, and Asylum (2005-2009), which was administered by the International Organization for Migration.

In addition to his affiliation with the Human Rights Institute, Scott is a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a Senior Advisor with Human Rights First.