After leaving Jones and Kelly, he worked for a time in the offices of Charles J. Dunlop as chief assistant architect followed by a year in the Office of Public Works Architects' Department designing headstones. He was responsible for the conversion of the Gate Theatre, Dublin at this time. This was for Hilton Edwards (1903-1982), who was to remain a life-long friend, and involved the conversion of the Ballroom and the Supper Rooms above, into an auditorium and the construction of a stage in an adjoining room. After Edward's death, Scott inherited his share holding in the theatre.

He remained at the Office of Public Works until 1927 when he was asked by Sean O'Casey to tour the United States of America with the Abbey Players for six months. That same morning he received a letter from the secretary of St Ultan's Children's Hospital in Charlemont Street, Dublin. Madeleine ffrench-Mullen (1880-1944) asked him to design a new wing for the hospital. After deliberation, it was decided that he should go on the tour with the Abbey while observing the latest trends in hospital design in the United States, and then return with ideas for St Ultan's. While he was there, Scott contemplated taking a job as an architect, taking up painting or acting full time. He was staying with his friend, the artist Patrick Tuohy (1884-1930) and was playing the lead role of Jack Clitheroe in the Broadway production of The Plough and the Stars. In the event he returned home to practice architecture from his father's front room. The new St Ultan's wing was opened in 1929 and was to be the first of many hospital commissions.

After an approach from Sean O'Casey and due to financial problems, Scott took up acting once again in 1929. This was the lead role of The New Gossoon by the Abbey Dramatist George Shiels (1886-1949) at the Apollo Theatre in London. Scott assumed the pseudonym of Wolfe Curran in an attempt to keep his acting career a secret from other architects. He was quite successful and acquired good reviews but the subsequent attention (from the Daily Express which exposed him as Michael Scott, an Irish architect) caused him to retire after three weeks. He never acted professionally again. The theatre was owned by J.B. Fegan who also owned another theatre in Oxford that needed renovation. Scott was interested in the job and took the part in the play on the understanding that he could have a drawing board in his dressing room.