Scott is the character in the novel who tames White Fang after saving him from a vicious dog fight. Scott treats White Fang with kindness and love; in return, White Fang becomes completely obedient to Scott. Scott is a brave character with a strong moral grounding. He proves resilient in his training of White Fang and proves just about everybody wrong when he manages to tame the dog descended from wolves.

When we first meet Scott in chapter 4 of part 4, he is with Matt, the dog-musher, and the two are described as "evidently coming down the creek from some prospecting trip." This suggests that Scott works as a prospector and explores the area for natural resources. One of the men at the dog fight later describes Scott dismissively, as "one of them crackerjack minin' experts." In the same section, Jack London writes about the "thousands of gold-hunters . . . going up the Yukon to Dawson and Klondike." Scott, we learn, is one of these gold-hunters. He seems to be particularly good at it, as he's described as "in with all the big bugs" and as "a special pal of the Gold Commissioner's."

As for where he studied, Scott seems to have learned much of his morality from his parents—particularly his father, Judge Scott. Judge Scott is described as a learned man familiar with encyclopedias and "various works on natural history."