Scott's wife Penny had supported him throughout the writing of "The Raj Quartet", despite his heavy drinking and sometimes violent behaviour, but once it was complete she left him and filed for divorce. Forced to reassess his life and options he turned to teaching, and in 1976 and 1977 he was a visiting professor at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma. His coda to "The Raj Quartet", "Staying On", was published in 1977, just before his second visit there. Soon after its publication and while he was in Tulsa, Scott was diagnosed with colon cancer.