 After retiring, Scott traveled to Europe with his daughter, Cornelia, and her husband, H. L. Scott.In Paris, he with Thurlow Weed to aid American consul John Bigelow in defusing the Trent Affair, a diplomatic incident with Britain.On his return from Europe in December 1861, he lived alone in New York City and at West Point, New York, where he wrote his memoirs and closely followed the ongoing civil war.