Scott wrote poetry as a teenager and worked on the Helix High School yearbook during her senior year. Her first full-time newspaper position was as a reporter for the "Beach & Bay Press" in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, in 1987. She also freelanced for the "Mira Mesa Scripps Ranch Sentinel". She then became business editor of the "La Jolla Light" weekly newspaper after winning a Best of Show journalism award out of 1,200 entries from the San Diego Press Club. She then moved to a daily paper, the "Vista Press", in North San Diego County. She left the "Vista Press" to string as a correspondent for the Associated Press and "The San Diego Union-Tribune". While reporting in San Diego, she was a member of the San Diego Press Club.