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 and father of three 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."
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 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.
"I was put into hospital there and then."
He spent his first two days in Southland Hospital before moving to Dunedin Hospital for three more 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.
"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."
