Investigative journalist David Scott is joining ABC News as a correspondent in the network’s investigative unit.
Scott, who steps into the new role today, will work closely with senior ep of investigative reporting Chris Vlasto, and focus his efforts on longform reporting projects across all ABC News platforms.
Scott is joining the network from HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel, where he worked as a correspondent-producer on a number of investigations, including reporting on the controversial 2022 World Cup in Qatar, domestic violence in MMA, and the powerful International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Prior to joining HBO in 2014, Scott served as vp of news at BET, where his team was honored with a Walter Cronkite Award for coverage of the 2012 Presidential Election cycle.
This is a homecoming for Scott. In his earlier years, he served as senior producer and senior broadcast producer at Nightline and a producer in ABC News Investigative Unit.
Scott will be based in New York for his new gig.
ABC News president James Goldston made the announcement in a memo to staff sent out this morning. Here’s that memo:
Team –
I am very happy to announce that David Scott is returning to ABC News as a correspondent with our Investigative Unit based in New York. He starts today and will focus on longform reporting projects.
David joins us from HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. As a correspondent-producer he conducted a number of investigations that were recognized with top honors, including reporting on the controversial 2022 World Cup in Qatar, domestic violence in Mixed Martial Arts, and the powerful International Olympic Committee. David’s report from east and central Africa on the ivory trade and poaching of African elephants in 2016 won a Peabody Award. His 2017 interview with Ramzan Kadyrov was the first to confront the Chechen ruler on camera about the purge of gay men from the Russian republic. Plus, David and his team won a 2019 Sports Journalism Emmy for their report from Everest Base Camp on the commercial exploitation of Sherpas. He’ll continue to report for Real Sports from time to time in addition to taking on this new role at ABC News.
Prior to joining HBO in 2014, David served as Vice President of News at BET Network where his team was honored with a Walter Cronkite Award for coverage of the 2012 Presidential Election cycle.
In David’s earlier years at ABC News, he served as Senior Producer and Senior Broadcast Producer at Nightline and a producer in the Investigative Unit. He reported and produced a number of impactful and award-winning stories including, an embed with the US Army Platoon stationed at the Restrepo outpost in Afghanistan, sexual abuse allegations against U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and an undercover investigation into child slavery in Haiti. David was also part of the ABC News team that exposed the cover up of racially-motivated murders inside a Lockhead Martin plant in Mississippi.
David joins Chris Vlasto and the stellar Investigative Unit at an important time. I’m incredibly proud of the team’s terrific reporting for multiple primetime specials on the COVID-19 pandemic, an important documentary on hate and white supremacy, the 10-part podcast and two-hour special “Truth and Lies: Jeffrey Epstein” and a special edition of Nightline on the murders of Halla Barakat and her mother Orouba in Istanbul in 2017. There’s much more to come in the year ahead.
Please join me in welcoming David back to ABC News.
James