Marlan O. Scully graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in engineering physics in 1961. He went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in 1963 and 1966, respectively.

Scully is Distinguished Professor of Applied Physics Quantum Optics at Texas A&M, where he has been a faculty member since 1992. He holds the Hershel E. Burgess Chair in Physics and is also a professor in the department of electrical engineering. He is the director of Texas A&M's Center for Theoretical Physics.

He has received a number of awards, including the 1970 Adolph E. Lomb Medal from OSA, the Elliott Cresson Medal of The Franklin Institute, the EG&G Medal of the Society for Optical and Quantum Electronics, the 1998 Charles H. Townes Award from OSA, APS Schawlow prize, IEEE Quantum Electronics Award, Humboldt Senior Faculty Prize, 2011 OSA Hebert Walther Award, and the 2012 Frederic Ives Medal. Scully has earned Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, OSA, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is a member of the Max Planck Society, the German equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences.

His major research interests include quantum optics, laser physics, and foundations of quantum mechanics, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and bioengineering.