Scott was born in Santa Cruz, California. He has two older siblings, Shannon and David. Scott has said that his brother David "looks like him but is far more cerebral and inherited the intellect of their parents," both of whom are retired teachers. He is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, California.[citation needed] He has appeared in several feature films, including Who Loves the Sun (2006), Monster-in-Law (2005), The Aviator (2004), Torque (2004), High Crimes (2002), and Star Trek: First Contact (1996). On television, he appeared as Griff in the series Boy Meets World and Josh on Party of Five, as well as David's love interest, Ben Cooper, on Six Feet Under. He played Palek on HBO'S drama Tell Me You Love Me (2007). In 2007-08, he had a cameo as a nurse in Knocked Up, and played Will Ferrell's biological brother Derek in Step Brothers, as well as Josh in the dot-com drama August. Scott played a cocaine-addicted, delirious baseball front office representative in the first and second seasons of the HBO series, Eastbound & Down. On Sunday, September 19, 2010, he appeared in the Adult Swim comedy Childrens Hospital.
Alongside recurring Party Down guest star J.K. Simmons, Scott starred as Caleb Sinclair in the 2009 film The Vicious Kind, in an as-yet uncharacteristic role. Though the film itself was met with mixed reviews, Scott's own performance was held in much higher regard. For his efforts, Scott won two individual awards at two separate film festivals, with writer and director of the film Lee Toland Krieger winning one as well. He is best known for his roles as Henry Pollard in the Starz comedy series Party Down, as Palek in the HBO drama Tell Me You Love Me and in the supporting role of Derek Huff in the 2008 film Step Brothers. His role as Henry Pollard earned him an Entertainment Weekly Ewwy nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2009. In 2010 he left Party Down and joined the cast of NBC's Parks and Recreation. Scott played a supporting role in Alexandre Aja's remake Piranha 3-D, playing a character similar to Bradford Dillman's character from the original.
He also played Jeremy in Leap Year. He currently appears on a series of commercials for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball. Scott starred in the film Passenger Side, released on DVD on October 26, 2010. Following Who Loves The Sun, the film was his second collaboration with writer-director Matt Bissonnette. Scott has also appeared in the Comedy Central television show Nick Swardson's Pretend Time, specifically as a news caster in the "Relapse into Refreshment" episode.
His name appears next to Jon Hamm's in the movie Anchorman in one of the broadcast's credits. It is still not known why these two names appear in the film.
