Scotch Grey is a cool, complex grey, and the golden rule is to keep everything around it cool. The moment you introduce a yellow-based partner — cream, brass, golden oak — the grey curdles and goes faintly sickly. So discipline here pays off.
For woodwork and ceilings, reach for a clean, neutral white rather than a creamy one. Farrow & Ball All White (LRV 92) is ideal: it's about as clean and uncreamy a white as you'll find — only the faintest warmth, no yellow — so it lifts the grey without curdling it. Skirtings, architraves and the ceiling in All White will let Scotch Grey read as the calm, considered colour it is.
For contrast, go deep and inky. Paint & Paper Library Blue Blood (LRV 16.4) is a brilliant anchor — a rich, dusky blue that gives the scheme some backbone on a chimney breast, a panelled wall or interior joinery. It reads as a deep, inky navy with a green-grey cast under it, and keeps the palette firmly in cool territory.
If you want a moment of personality, Dulux Fuchsia Falls 2 (LRV 29.8) brings a bright, cool magenta-pink that sits surprisingly happily against grey — think a single piece of furniture, an alcove or a textile rather than whole walls. And if you want one deliberate exception to the cool rule, Mylands Beehive Place No.140 (LRV 58.6) is a golden, honeyed yellow — keep it to an adjoining room or the inside of a cupboard rather than right beside Scotch Grey.
The "but what about warmth?" question always comes up — people worry a cool scheme feels clinical. The answer is texture, not yellow. Bring warmth through linen, wool, a flat-weave rug and plenty of natural light, and keep your metals cool: chrome, polished nickel, pewter. Skip the brass and the oak.
Practically: paint two coats of Scotch Grey on a big board beside your chosen white and live with them for a couple of days, north light and evening light both. Cool greys shift a lot depending on the room's aspect, and you want to be sure before you commit the lot.