Scott worked as a plant scientist at Lincoln for 39 years, retiring in 2009 as a senior lecturer.
However, for the past 14 years he has been part of the ANZ Young Farmer Contest, initially setting the questions for the contestants, with his growing contribution recognised when he was named its first patron in 2012.
Emberson became a lecturer in entomology at the-then Lincoln College in 1968. He retired 33 years later in 2002, but never really severed his ties with the university.
He has continued to contribute to the field of entomology with the results of his classification work on mites being used internationally.
He spent much of the last decade working with the Department of Conservation surveying invertebrate diversity for the tenure review process in Canterbury and Otago, and has assisted with the development of New Zealand’s Threatened Species List.