After entering the Army, Scarry was assigned to the military's radio repair school. After little success in that trade, he was chosen to paint a large sign and then made an art director after receiving a medical discharge. Later he became "Editor and Writer of Publications for the Information and Morale Services Section of the Allied Force Headquarters" and served in North Africa. After the war, Scarry worked for the art departments of various magazines in New York, including a brief stint at Vogue, before making a career breakthrough in 1949 with Little Golden Books.