Scott is introduced as Buffy's normal, human love interest for three episodes of season three. Problem is, Buffy is still reeling from what happened between her and Angel and really isn't ready to have feelings for someone else again.
Their relationship gets off to a very awkward start (in "Faith, Hope & Trick") between Scott and Buffy misreading each other and Buffy flip flopping between yes and no. It almost looks like they won't have a relationship when after she accepts a date with him he tries to give her a claddagh - the same ring that Angel gave her when things turned serious between them. Buffy freaks out, saying she can't do this, and runs away. All of this is tied in with Angel and her unresolved feelings for him. Finally she goes to Giles, who was trying to get information out of her about Angel's death, and confesses to him that Angel had a soul when she killed him. She is able to mend things with Scott and is finally able to go on a date with him. She tells him she just has one thing to do first. That one thing is to bring the claddagh that Angel gave her to the place of his death and leave it behind. She is trying to move on with her life, break up with Angel in his death, and accept a potential new boyfriend. After she leaves Angel returns from the dead, unbeknownst to Buffy.
In the next episode ("Beauty and the Beasts") Buffy and Scott are trying to figure out their relationship, which actually seems to being on the way to solid, when a series of attacks happen. At first everyone is afraid it was Oz, while a werewolf, who killed the first person. While Oz is locked up for the second night of the full moon Buffy discovers a feral Angel on the prowl. She knocks him out and chains him up but his return further muddles Buffy's love life and emotions. Buffy continues to try and figure out if it was Oz, Angel, or someone else who is killing people while we witness what is really occurring - Scott's best friend Pete created a serum to become the perfect man for his girlfriend Debbie, and it has turned him into a Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. Pete ends up killing Debbie, and attacks Buffy, but before he can kill her a somewhat coherent Angel shows up and saves her. Between Angel returning from the dead and one of Scott's best friends killing his other best friend things are very muddled for their relationship.
Finally, in "Homecoming," we see the breakup of Buffy and Scott. Buffy has visited Angel and tells him that she has a boyfriend now and is trying to have a normal life. Meanwhile, there is a school dance which Scott did not ask Buffy out to, saying he thought she wouldn't care for that. However, she tells him she does so they decide to go. But right before the dance Scott dumps Buffy, telling her that he feels like she isn't really there in their relationship. He ends up taking someone else to the dance in Buffy's place.
From day one Buffy and Scott were pretty much doomed. While it was shitty of Scott to break up with Buffy right before the dance, one really can't blame him. Buffy gave him the run around for an entire episode as she went back and forth debating over whether or not she even wanted a relationship. Then Angel came back further complicating her feelings. While battling her own feelings for and indecision about Angel, she now has a boyfriend that she wasn't even sure she wanted in the first place. And she consistently lies to that boyfriend so she can go sneak off and see Angel. When he breaks up with her Scott accuses her of never giving him her full attention - which is incredibly valid. As the show goes on the one thing that will be apparently clear is that Buffy is deeply in love with Angel and no one else even has a chance of measuring up to that standard. All of her human relationships, in the end, will be doomed. There is only one other relationship that comes close to her relationship with Angel, that comes close to the same level of honesty and openness - and that one is just as complicated, if not more so. So while it was lousy of Scott to break up with Buffy when he did it was also lousy of Buffy to not only not give Scott her full attention, but to also lie to him about seeing her old boyfriend (even platonically) behind his back. You cannot build a relationship on lies. And when it comes down to distance, while you can build a relationship you need honesty and openness - neither of which Buffy had any intention of giving.
The one amusing thing to come out of the breakup between Scott and Buffy was Faith's reaction. Mad at Scott for dumping Buffy right before the dance and taking someone else, Faith interrupted his dance with his date to give him an update on his supposed STD, putting a damper on his evening. While it was petty of her, it was Faith's way of having Buffy's back when she knew Buffy wouldn't do a thing about it.
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