That fear materialised last month though it took him more than two days to find out what exactly happened.
The 41-year-old Te Tipua School principal suffered a heart attack, leading to a five-day hospital stay and an ongoing recovery.
His father, Rowan Scott died under similar circumstances.
He suffered from coronary artery disease and at the age of 29 died while playing in a football match for the same club, Thistle FC.
"He died on the field . . . since I turned 29 I’ve always had a little bit of fear in the back of my mind."
Mr Scott did not know he had a heart attack at the time, he said.
The morning of his heart attack Mr Scott was coaching his junior football team and had experienced a "crushing feeling", light headiness and a tight chest.
Despite this, he played football that afternoon against Gore Wanderers AFC due to the team struggling for numbers. "I ended up playing a whole half. Not even feeling 100%.
"I probably pushed myself beyond what I should have."
The next day he still did not feel well.
"In the past, I was able to recover and shake the feeling. This time it sort of hung around. It was a real uneasy feeling in the chest, just was not comfortable."
It felt like a small child had been sitting on his chest, he said.
He researched his symptoms, concluding he may have had a heart attack.
The next day he returned to Te Tipua School for the first day of term three to continue his role as principal.
"Still couldn’t shake it. I just felt in the back of my mind something wasn’t right."
That night, he admitted himself to Southland Hospital in Invercargill, where doctors monitored him and tested his blood.
After some time he was informed he had suffered a heart attack. "I said ‘really?"’
His heart enzymes were high which had caused the attack, he said.
"I was put into hospital there and then."
He spent his first two days in Southland Hospital before being transferred to Dunedin Hospital for a further three days.
At Dunedin Hospital he underwent an angiogram.
"For a start they were all thinking I was going to need a stent.
"Luckily, after the angiogram it came back that I did. There was narrowing of some of the arteries, but it wasn’t the major ones."
It would have got worse over time had cardiologists not found out then, he said.
"Every time I got a tinge in the chest I got a bit panicky. I’d had enough time in the hospital that every time there was a bit of pain there, I’d be hooked up to the monitor and they’d be seeing any changes."
His partner had been in hospital with him the entire time, taking a week off work to do so.
Two weeks before the incident he had visited the doctor for a blood test as he had been getting chest pains while exercising.
"The blood tests came back fine and [the doctor] gave me an angina spray."
Two weeks later those test results had changed, he said.
"It’s funny because everyone says it’s your job or stress. It wasn’t that. I love my job and I was probably more stressed at my last job than I am here."
He believed the heart attack was due to genetics.
His mother had stents and his father suffered from coronary artery disease.
"There’s family history with this."
Mr Scott had maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY).
"I got the same issues as type 1 but I won’t end up in hospital. I’ll just run extremely high for long periods of time and my body will adjust. You can get away with that as a teenager, but you end up mismanaging your diabetes. Because I ran high for so long I’ve done damage to my body.
"Between that and genetics, they’ve got me."
Recovery was "nerve-racking" but he was "grateful" for the support so far.
"Even sitting in the office or sitting on the couch at home you just feel a bit uncomfortable and it just runs through your head that something is happening. Apparently it is quite normal."
Once home he could not drive for two weeks.
"There was a lot of sitting around not doing a lot and taking my medication. Just felt tired a lot of the time."
Any physical activity caused tiredness, he said.
His partner and three children had been at home with him while he recovered.
"Ultimately I’m grateful that I was able to listen to my body and make the right decision to do what I needed to make sure I’m still around for my family.
"To think that even when you are doing predominantly the right thing that this can still happen to you. Sometimes there’s no avoiding it."
He was easing back into his principal’s duties and last week he returned to teaching.
"Turns out it was a good decision to go [to the hospital]."
