James Scott joined Exeter City in January 2023 on an eighteen-month deal from Hull City. He arrived on a free transfer and was one of six City signings in the January transfer window. Playing around forty first-team games for the Grecians, he moved to St Mirren on loan in January 2024 with the deal set to be made permanent after six months. 

James started as a youth player at Motherwell and made his debut for the first-team in April 2018. After appearing regularly in 2019/20 he moved to Hull City for an undisclosed fee in January 2020. At Hull James was to make seven league appearances in a side that was relegated in 2020 and a further eighteen for a team that won League One the following season. Back in the Championship he only played once more for Hull and he spent most of 2021/22 on loan at Hibernian. Returning to Hull he failed to make headway and joined Exeter eight months later at the start of 2023.    

James made his debut for Exeter as a second-half substitute against Charlton Athletic on 4 February 2023 and scored his first goal on 25 March 2023 against Acrrington Stanley. Having made fifteen appearances for City during 2022/23, he went on to play another twenty-eight league and cup games ahead of joining St Mirren on loan in January 2024 with a view towards a permanent deal ahead of the 2024/25 season. Adding three goals to his Grecians' tally during the second half of his stay, had scored in each of the two opening games of the season with a further strike coming against Charlton Athletic in October.

Arriving at St Mirren midway through the season, James struggled to make an impact with his new club.