 In 1636, he became a minister of Dairsie parish, Fife, moving on to Leuchars in 1645 and then to Saltoun, near Edinburgh, in 1659.He refused an offer to become Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh University in 1662.In this period, Scougal showed himself to be an extremely religious ideologue, preaching against papists and playing a leading role in the national witchhunt of the 1660s.