The Swiss company SCOTT Sports SA (formerly Scott USA) is a producer of bicycles, winter equipments, motorsports gear and sportswear.

In 1958, engineer and skier Ed Scott from Sun Valley, Idaho

Sun Valley, Idaho

Sun Valley is a resort city in Blaine County in the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum, lying within the greater Wood River valley. Tourists from around the world enjoy its skiing, hiking, ice skating, trail riding, tennis, and cycling. The population was 1,427...

 invented a ski pole

Ski pole

Ski poles are used by skiers to improve balance and timing. Early ski poles were simply sticks, then bamboo , then steel . In 1958, Ed Scott invented the aluminium ski pole...

 made of aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

, which compared favorably to those made of bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....

 or steel. On the basis of this success, the company started to produce many kinds of sports goods. In 1970, Scott sold their first protection goggles for motocross

Motocross

Motocross is a form of motorcycle sport or all-terrain vehicle racing held on enclosed off road circuits. It evolved from trials, and was called scrambles, and later motocross, combining the French moto with cross-country...

 riders; further motocross wear followed.

Scott expanded to Europe in 1978, settling their headquarters in Fribourg

Fribourg

Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

The first mountain bike

Mountain bike

A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...

 was produced in 1986, but more important was the invention of an aerodynamic handlebar

Bicycle handlebar

Bicycle handlebar or often bicycle handlebars refers to the steering mechanism for bicycles; the equivalent of a steering wheel. Besides steering, handlebars also often support a portion of the rider's weight, depending on their riding position, and provide a convenient mounting place for brake...

, with which cyclist Greg LeMond

Greg LeMond

Gregory James LeMond is a former professional road bicycle racer from the United States and a three-time winner of the Tour de France. He was born in Lakewood, California and raised in Reno, Nevada....

 won the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

, only eight seconds ahead of Laurent Fignon

Laurent Fignon

Laurent Patrick Fignon was a French professional road bicycle racer. He won the Tour de France in 1983 and in 1984. He missed winning it a third time, in 1989, by 8 seconds, the closest margin ever to decide the tour. He also won the Giro d'Italia in 1989, after having been the runner-up in 1984,...

. Today, this form of handlebar is obligatory for most time trial

Time trial

In many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial  can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...

 races and is also used in triathlon

Triathlon

A triathlon is a multi-sport event involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance events. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances...

s.

In 1991, Scott produced the first suspension fork named "Unishock" and a year later, the first full suspension mountain bike was shown to the public. The racing bicycle

Racing bicycle

A racing bicycle, also known as a road bike, is a bicycle designed for competitive road cycling, a sport governed by according to the rules of the Union Cycliste Internationale...

 sector expanded continuously and in 2002, stage 10 of the Tour de France was won by Patrice Halgand

Patrice Halgand

Patrice Halgand is a French professional road racing cyclist, who is not currently signed to any team. He was one of only three Festina team riders who were named as clean during the Festina doping scandal during the 1998 Tour de France.Halgand indicated on 28 December 2008 that he is considering...

 riding for the Jean Delatour team, which was at that time supported by Scott. Today, Scott supplies Team Columbia-High Road with equipment.

The name 'Scott USA' was changed to 'Scott Sports', representing a shift in emphasis to the European market.