Scouts, often referred to as the Scout section to differentiate itself from the wider movement and its parent organisation, is a section of Scouting run by The Scout Association for ten and a half to fourteen year old young people. The section follows on from Cub Scouts (8-10½ year olds) and precedes Explorer Scouts (14-18 year olds). Since 1991, the section has been coeducational and today the Scout section accepts young people from all backgrounds, faiths and genders.

The Scout section is run locally by Scout groups and is led by a team of volunteer youth leaders. In addition to the general programme of outdoor and adventurous activities, learning new skills and connecting with the world and local community some Scout troops specialise to follow the Sea Scout and Air Scout training programmes to develop a more nautical or aeronautical feel to their troops.

It is a direct descendant of the original Boy Scout patrols and troops formed following the introduction of a Scouting programme in 1908 making it the oldest Scouting section in the world. The early section programme was based heavily on Scouting for Boys, published in 1908, and the regular resources and manuals that followed and received no major change until the publication of the Advanced Party Report in 1966 which saw controversial changes to the programme, uniform and name. The programme was re-launched in 2002 as part of the 6-25 progressive programme and refreshed most recently in 2015.

Scouts wear a uniform of a green shirt or blouse, navy blue activity trousers or skirt, group neckerchief and scout belt and earn badges for skills learned and challenges overcome which are sewn onto their uniform shirt.

The Scout section emerged from the ideas of Scouting's founder Robert Baden-Powell for a training scheme for boys based on the skills learned in the army. Before these were published the format was tested at an experimental camp on Brownsea Island in Dorset in August 1907 lasting eight days and attended by 22 boys for a range of class backgrounds in London. Concepts still key to the movement, such as the patrol system, ceremonies and scoutcraft emerged from this camp.

In January 1908, the tested ideas began to appear in Scouting for Boys, published fortnightly in six parts, which contained Baden-Powell's Scout training scheme, a series of tests intended to build character and good citizenship in boys aged 11 to 18 years, as well as suggestions for organisation based around the patrol system established at Brownsea Island. The book was a runaway success and was reprinted six times in 1908 alone and was translated into a number of other languages including French, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese and Hebrew. While the original intention was for the scheme to be used by existing youth groups, groups of boys from across the UK took it upon themselves to form into Boy Scout Patrols and to seek adult leadership, resulting in the formation of local Boy Scout Troops, each of several Patrols.

The movement began to develop over the next few years: the first Scout camp at Humshaugh took place in August–September 1908, the Sea Scout branch was formed to provide specialist nautical training in 1909 and badges and tests began to appear from around this time as well with 33 available by 1909. The same year saw the first National Scout Rally at the Crystal Palace attaracting 11,000 Scouts and the formation of a headquarters support structure for the fledgling movement.

The outbreak of World War I saw the scouts contribute on the home front and through organising welfare facilities on the western front. At home Sea scouts performed cast-watching duties, Scouts acted as messengers and guarding key points on the railway network and worked the land among other tasks.