Scott grew up in a small town outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, living under the flight path of the Milwaukee airport, he developed a strong love of country and an insatiable desire to fly airplanes. The eldest of 5 children, Scott was the first in his working-class family to go to college. At 18, with a suitcase and an ROTC scholarship in hand, he set off on his own to Boston to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He graduated with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the USAF. The USAF taught him to fly – he piloted the T-37, T-38, and, ultimately, the B-52 bomber, the largest combat aircraft in the USAF fleet. Scott was responsible for the 6-man B-52 aircrew, commanding nuclear response missions for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and, in so doing, keeping our country’s ever-present nuclear response viable. At times, his missions meant dealing with fierce weather conditions, such as unpredictable typhoons over the Pacific. His commanding officers at SAC acknowledged his capabilities by awarding him its Top Performance Award (twice), along with a commendation medal for meritorious service and a small arms expert marksmanship award.
After eight years in the USAF, Scott decided he could best serve his country by leaving the USAF and returning to MIT’s graduate school to better hone his analytic skills. He received a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics. At that time, the Soviet Union posed the greatest threat to our country. Scott realized that to best apply his technical skills, a better understanding of that threat was required. So, he joined MIT’s Center for International Studies. Scott worked closely with then-Senator Al Gore on assessing the feasibility of achieving US political goals through the development of the Midgetman, a small intercontinental ballistic missile. Scott studied US international policy, learned to speak Russian, and completed all but his PhD dissertation in MIT’s Russian Studies Program.
Armed with this training, Scott joined the research staff of the Institute of Defense Analyses, a federal “think tank.” There he could apply his operational experience from his time in the USAF with his academic training from MIT. Scott spent the next 16 years supporting the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense on a variety of assessments, including the designs of the future USAF bomber aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the Space Shuttle, and systems to support US Special Forces.
In 2004, the Secretary of Defense recruited Scott to join his staff to report directly to him. At the Pentagon, Scott oversaw the programs designing and developing our country’s B-2 Bomber, the Next Generation Bomber, F-35 (JSF) fighter aircraft, F-22 fighter aircraft, Advanced Unmanned Aircraft (Drones and UAVs), and Airborne Electronic Warfare systems. He was also in charge of the assessment of the threat posed by our potential enemies – their ballistic missiles, their aircraft, and the weapons and electronic warfare systems those aircraft carried. The Secretary of Defense frequently relied on Scott’s expertise to provide him with quick-response assessments of how our Air Force’s capabilities would fare against the ever-evolving threat. Scott couldn’t talk much about his work, as it was all at the very highest security levels.
In 2014, Scott decided to leave his work to his younger colleagues at the Pentagon. He moved to The Villages, Florida, with his wife, Angelyn Jewell. Scott was diagnosed with mesothelioma soon after moving to Florida. He died on 22 December 2023. Scott is survived by his wife, his brothers Craig, Keith, and Brant, and his sister, Debra. We will all miss him very much.
Scott loved aviation and space travel. A portion of his ashes will be launched into space to orbit the moon, eventually landing somewhere on the moon’s surface. Another portion will be launched into deep space “to go where no man has gone before.“ Godspeed, Scott Berg. You did us all proud.
