The U.S. Masters champion has slipped under the radar at Muirfield all week but rounds of 71, 72 and 70 have given him a great opportunity to make up for letting slip a four-shot lead with four holes remaining in last year's Open.
"It's a good feeling to sit here in this position, absolutely," Australian Scott told reporters after finishing on level-par 213.
"It's completely different. I go out there tomorrow not carrying the weight of the lead or not having won a major. So it's a different feeling.
"Hopefully I can play enough quality shots to give myself chances to be in the hunt right at the end. But it's a long way off. I'll be treading cautiously tomorrow."
Scott made three birdies and two bogeys around the treacherous links on Saturday, dropping only one shot on the tough back nine.
"It was a good round of golf today," he said. "I hit a lot of really good shots. It was really solid stuff. It puts me in good position for tomorrow."
Scott has managed to move on from his painful Lytham experience.
"I haven't thought about the entirety of it at all," he said. "I thought it's best not to.
"Just take the couple of bits that I wanted to and leave it as an experience. The way I remember it is only as a great week."
Scott got the major monkey of his back by beating Argentina's Angel Cabrera in a playoff to win the Masters in April.
"Especially in this situation where I am right now I feel like I've got nothing really to lose tomorrow and majors to gain," he said.
"So that's certainly a nice feeling, whereas before in some ways it was getting to the point where you're hoping it was going to happen tomorrow," Scott added.
"It is absolutely a weight off your shoulders to have the first one."
Scott said before the tournament that to win the Open would be a fairytale.
"They do occasionally happen," he said. "So I'm not counting myself out of it at all."
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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