Scott Bader was formed in 1920 in London (UK), then moved to Wollaston (UK) in 1940. The company has been instrumental in the development of polyester resins, designing the first room temperature cure polyester resin in 1941 and the first 'air drying' polyesters in 1949. Ernest Bader established Scott Bader Ltd as a Common Ownership Company in 1951 and three years later Scott Bader developed the first marine polyester resin. This was used to make the GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) hull for Halmatic's 'Perpetua' (the first large GRP boat in the world). The company continued its close relationship with the marine industry and designed marine class Gelcoats in 1965. By 1980, an extensive range of Crystic® products had been built up and sold all over the world in markets such as building; transport; chemical containment and piping.

The development of today's Speciality Polymer business started in the 1960s with sales of Polidene, polyvinylidine chloride copolymers, for barrier coatings. Sobral alkyd resin production also commenced in this decade. By the early 1970s, Polidenes were in full scale production and in the late 1970s were also being used to offer fire retardant properties to the textile industry. In 1975 Scott Bader received The Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for a full gloss Lightning emulsion paint based on Polidene.

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