Scott joined the Political Science faculty of the University of Pittsburgh as an Associate Professor in 2005, and directed Pitt's Center for Latin American Studies 2014-2018.  Prior to moving to Pittsburgh, he taught at Duke, CIDE (Mexico) and  the University of Salamanca (Spain).  He earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, in 1996, and his BA at Occidental College.  Prior to entering graduate school he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa.  His research focuses on political parties, electoral systems, and legislatures, with a regional specialization in Latin America. Among his publications are Are Politics Local? The Two Dimensions of Party Nationalization around the World (2017 Cambridge University Press), Patterns of Legislative Politics: Roll Call Voting in the United States and Latin America's Southern Cone (Cambridge University Press, 2004), Legislative Politics in Latin America, (coeditor and contributor; Cambridge University Press, 2002), Pathways to Power (coeditor and contributor, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), and Paths for Cuba (co-editor and contributor, University of Pittsburgh Press 2018). His articles have appeared in the Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies; Comparative Politics, Party Politics, Electoral Studies, Review of International Political Economy, Journal of Politics in Latin America , and other journals. He was also the primary investigator on a grant from the USAID to produce documents related to their political party development programs.  His current work focuses on a collaboration with the University of Salamanca and their survey of legislators (Parliamentary Elites of Latin America), including work on views in Latin America towards the United States and China.  He is also working on a book about US-Latin American relations.