John Scott was not, during his years as Solicitor General, one of the more prolific speakers in the House of Commons. On the countrary, he addressed the House on only fifteen different occasions. This level of participation, however, was not unusual for a junior law officer. Of those of his immediate predecessors who held office for a substantial period, only Alexander Wedderburn spoke much more frequently; James Wallace spoke twice in two years. As regards substance, Scott contributed several modest, rather colourless efforts which suggest little more than a work-manlike adherence to his duty to support the Attorney General and the government. In May 1792 he defended Archibald Macdonald's decision not to indict Birmingham magistrates for failing to prevent or control recent rioting there. In December he spoke on behalf of the Bill to regulate the presence of aliens in England. In May 1789 he had supported an inquiry into the slave trade, possibly out of friendship for the inquiry's principal advocate William Wilberforce. Not all of Scott's speeches were of this sort, however. During the debates on the King's illness in the winter of 1788–9, the Hastings impeachment in 1790, and the Libel Act the following year, Scott played a far more significant role. Since they contributed to the survival of the government, Scott's efforts during the Regency crisis were the most immediately important.