Scott was born in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, to John and Rosalind Scott. His father was a sports administrator and latterly director of the U.K. Anti Doping Agency and Chief Executive of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. His mother was a special needs teacher. Aged 1, he moved to Canada in 1988 where his father worked for the Federal Minister for Amateur Sport. It was in Canada that he had his first sailing experience in dinghies on the Ottawa River. He returned aged 6 in 1993 and was re-introduced to sailing at the inland reservoir at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire where his parents encouraged him to take up junior competitive sailing. He was educated at Sharnbrook Upper School in Bedfordshire and the University of Southampton where he graduated with a BSc in Geography.
