Scott wasn't too concerned with the 55-point loss to the Saints, who were missing only a few of their starting side including Steven Baker, Justin Koschitzke, Adam Schneider and Zac Dawson, given the number of senior Cats absent.
"We had a lot of guys who haven't played much footy; one, our first-year players and that's obvious, but we've also got a lot of guys who haven't played much footy full stop," he said.
"To an extent we expected them to be very good opposition, but we don't make any excuses for our young players.
"It's good they've been exposed to that standard but the only thing it shows them is that they've got to lift a fair bit to get to that level."
Scott said second-year player Mitch Duncan was the standout but he was also impressed with the composure of recent draftees George Horlin-Smith and Cam Guthrie, and pleased that unlucky pair Mitch Brown and Steven Motlop got game time.
He also said some of his young players showed enough to suggest they deserved a chance in the season proper.
"I said to the players that as coaches we probably set them up a little bit in a few areas, but we were pleased with the way most of them fought it out," Scott said.
"We always expect a 100 per cent effort from the players and we were confident that's what they gave.
"But there's still a lot of things we've been working on that have to get a lot better for us to get up into the top quarter of the ladder."
The Cats will meet St Kilda again in round one but Scott believes Saturday night's look at close to the Saints' best side won't be much of an advantage.
"It's hard to say because they may well change things up, although on that performance you would say they don't need to change too much," he said.
"The good players played well and their systems looked pretty good.
"But it was a NAB Cup game. I wouldn't have thought they would read too much into it and we won't either."
The Cats now face Port Adelaide in a NAB Challenge match at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.
Scott said some senior players would be rested, including Andrew Mackie, who suffered a corked leg, but he would recall the likes of Mathew Stokes, James Kelly and Harry Taylor.
He also said Cameron Ling (hamstring) and James Podsiadly (hand) looked to be the only players in doubt for round one at this stage.
