Scott held a bachelor's degree from Yale University, a Masters from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of Santo Tomas in 1968. Scott's dissertation was published that year by the University of Santo Tomas Press as "Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History". A revised and expanded second edition was published in 1984. He debunked the Kalantiaw legend in this book. Datu Kalantiaw was the main character in a historical fabrication written in 1913 by Jose E. Marco. Through a series of failures by scholars to critically assess Marco's representation, the invented legend was adopted as actual history.