After his arrest, he was examined by George Abbot, who had been Bishop of London at the time of the execution of John Roberts and Scott's arrest in 1610, and was now Archbishop of Canterbury. Abbot offered Scott an oath of loyalty to King James I. However, seeing that the oath was constructed in such a way that it implied disloyalty to the Pope and the Catholic Church, Scott instead suggested his own formula, declaring "that I am a loyal servant to His Majesty... also for the past and for the future, that I have been and to the last moment of my life will ever be loyal to my King; which is more than you exact by your statute". However, this was not accepted and Scott was placed in close confinement (although not before drawing on his legal expertise to insist that Abbot did not have jurisdiction to hand down such a punishment).