Able then to spend time in a sanatorium close to home and taking the Ayrshire sea-air there would be some improvement. But it was not sustained; there was renewed worsening to the point that just a year later in December 1933, aged just twenty-four, he passed away.

His death would be in Renfrewshire, in Linwood, close to where he had been born and grown up, the son of an Irish mother and a Scots-Irish father, and where with St. Convals he had first played the game. His burial in neighbouring Kilbarchan was attended by the full Celtic team. It was the second in short order of a Bhoy losing his life far too young. Just over two years earlier there had been the death of John Thomson, Scarff having been on the field that day. Thousands of fans would also pay their respects.