H.William Scott, Jr., was born in Graham, North Carolina. He was an outstanding athlete in High School, graduating from Darlington School in 1933. He received his A.B. degree n 1937 from the University of North Carolina, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He applied to only one medical school, Harvard, was accepted and graduated in 1941. An active duodenal ulcer kept him out of World War II. His surgical residency training was completed at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and The Children's Hospital in Boston.

In 1945 he was a Harvey Cushing Fellow in Neurosurgery at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital. He then went to the Johns Hopkins Hospital where he served a year and a half as an assistant resident and chief resident in surgery. At Hopkins he was trained by Dr. Alfred Blalock. On completion of his surgical residency, Bill Scott chose an academic career. In 1946 he was offered and accepted a position as Instructor at Hopkins. Three years later he was appointed Associate Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. In 1952 he left Hopkins for Vanderbilt where he became Professor off Surgery and Chairman of the Department of Surgery.