Scott was a founder member of the Nottingham Climbers Club (1961), president of the Alpine Climbing Group (1976–82), vice president of the British Mountaineering Council (1994–97) and president of the Alpine Club (1999–2001). He was made a CBE in 1994. In 1999 he was awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. In 2005 he was presented with the Golden Eagle Award by the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild. Also in 2005, following on from Tom Weir and Adam Watson, he became the third recipient of the John Muir Trust Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his mountaineering accomplishments and commitment to conservation and supporting mountain people and mountain environments around the world. Following on from Walter Bonatti and Reinhold Messner he received the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award in Chamonix in 2011.