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 prior to the deal being made permanent at the end of the season.  

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 Accrington 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. Adding three goals to his Grecians' tally during the second half of his stay, including in each of the two opening games of the 2023/24 season, his final strike for the club was against Charlton Athletic in October 2023.

Arriving at St Mirren midway through the season, with the deal set to be made permanent in the summer, James featured regularly in the first-team squad (predominantly as a substitute) and scored his first goal for the club against Hearts in May 2024 shortly before his official release from Exeter City. Soon after starting his first full-season in Paisley, he participated in St Mirren's first European game in 37 years against Valur of Iceland.