Background
Scott was born in London in 1947 and emigrated to New Zealand with his family as an 18-month-old.
Scott was born in London in 1947 and emigrated to New Zealand with his family as an 18-month-old.
He was raised at Rongotea in rural Manawatu, and studied at Massey University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in psychology in 1972.
Scott has been a regular cartoonist, initially for the New Zealand Listener magazine, between 1984 and 1987 for the Auckland Star, and then for the Evening Post newspaper and its successor the Dominion Post, for most of his career. Scott said of Muldoon: "I believe that much of the sourness, depression and division that currently besets our country can be laid at the feet of one man - Robert David Muldoon.. he has made intolerance and prejudice, if not fashionable then at least permissible." (Rights of passage: beyond the New Zealand identity crisis: Laidlaw, Chris, Auckland, New Zealand: Hodder Moa Beckett, 1999 p 102)
As a satirist, newspaper columnist and cartoonist, Scott often provokes New Zealand politicians and at one stage was banned from the press contingent for a considerable period of time by the Prime Minister of the day, the Right Honourable Sir Rob Muldoon, which naturally resulted in continuing astringent expressions in the press by Scott. Scott co-wrote the screenplay for the animated feature Footrot Flats: The Dog"s Tale with Murray Balliol
In 2011, Scott produced the 1981 Springbok Tour television drama, Rage shown as the final of four parts of the Sunday Theatre season on television One on 4 September 2011.
Scott has won numerous awards, including the Qantas Awards for New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year (five times), Columnist of the Year, and Political Columnist of the Year (three times). He also won scriptwriting awards for Fallout and for View from the Top.