Scott is regarded as one of the world's leading high altitude and big wall climbers. He is best known for surviving an unplanned bivouac with Dougal Haston 100 metres below the summit of Everest, without oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, without frostbite. Apart from his first ascent of the southwest face of Everest with Haston, all his other Himalayan climbs were achieved in lightweight or pure Alpine style. He pioneered big wall climbing on Baffin Island, Mount Kenya and in the Karakoram, famously on The Ogre (Baintha Brakk) with Chris Bonington, and later on Shivling in the Indian Himal.