Background
Scott was born on a farm in Gentilly, a historic section of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Scott was born on a farm in Gentilly, a historic section of New Orleans, Louisiana.
After high school, he attended Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and received a Bachelor of Arts degree.
When he was 7 years old, his family moved to the Lower Ninth Ward. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan in 1965, after which he returned to Xavier to teach. In 1995, Scott received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Michigan State University and a Doctor of Humanities from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1997.
In 1992, he was awarded the exclusive MacArthur Grant (also known as the "Genius Grant") from the John Doctorate. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
He used the money to build a larger studio. Scott fled New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005 and settled in Houston, Texas.
He died at Methodist Hospital in Houston after receiving two double-lung transplants and his long struggle with pulmonary fibrosis. An exhibition called "Beyond Black" featuring Editor Clark, Eugene J. Martin and Scott opened at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, on January 28-May 8, 2011.
The McKenna Museum of African-American Art in New Orleans hosted a tribute exhibition in fall 2014 as a Prospect.3+ satellite exhibition.