On 9 July 2006, he completed a 44.8 km crossing of the English Channel from England to France in 11 hours 46 minutes at the age of 46. At the time he established the record for the shortest period of time to swim the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, completing all 4 swims in just 12 months 26 days. Along with his brother, Dan Richards (whom Scott coached and mentored), they are the only siblings in history of have completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
A 1966 Cum Laude graduate of Pine Crest School, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he was an All-State high school swimmer for four years, he holds a BA in Psychology from Marshall University (Summa Cum Laude, class of 1982) earning All Southern Conference swimming status his senior year. Medical School training at Temple University (1986) was followed with a residency in Psychiatry and Fellowship in Mood and Eating Disorders, both done at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He served in the US Air Force as a staff Psychiatrist from 1990-1992 and currently practices Psychiatry with specialty in Eating Disorders for the Kaiser Permanente Medical Group in Vista, California.
