Following shakedown off Bermuda and availability at Boston, Massachusetts, "Neal A. Scott" steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, thence to Solomons Island, Maryland, where she conducted acoustic test runs for the Naval Mine Warfare Test Station during the first two weeks of November 1944. She then proceeded back to Norfolk whence she operated as a training ship in the lower Chesapeake Bay area until 10 December. The next day she sortied from Lynnhaven Roads in Task Force 63 to escort convoy UGS-63 to Oran, Algeria. The convoy of approximately 100 ships in 15 columns passed through the Strait of Gibraltar on 27 December and arrived at Oran the 28th.