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In 1993, David Mirkin hired Scully to write for The Simpsons, as a replacement for the departing Conan O ' Brien, after reading some of his sample scripts.

He began as a writer and producer for the show during its fifth season and wrote the episodes " Lisa's Rival ", " Two Dozen and One Greyhounds " and " Lisa on Ice " which aired in season six.

" Lisa's Rival " was his first episode ; he wrote the script, but the original concept was conceived by O ' Brien.

Similarly, he wrote the script for " Two Dozen and One Greyhounds ", which was based on an idea by Al Jean and Mike Reiss.

" Lisa on Ice " was inspired by Scully's love of ice hockey and featured many experiences from his childhood, as was " Marge Be Not Proud " ( which he wrote for season seven ) which was based " one of the most traumatic moments " of his life, when he was caught shoplifting aged twelve.

He jokingly told Variety that " It's great to be paid for reliving the horrors of your life.

" He also wrote " Team Homer " and " Lisa's Date with Density ".

Scully noted: " I wrote a lot of Lisa's shows.

I have five daughters, so I like Lisa a lot.

I like Homer, too.

Homer comes very naturally to me: I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing.

A lot of my favorite episodes are the ones when Homer and Lisa are in conflict with each other ...

They're very human, I think that's their appeal.

" He became showrunner in 1997, serving until 2001 ( seasons 9 – 12 ), making him the first person to run the show for more than two seasons.

As showrunner and executive producer, Scully said his aim was to " not wreck the show ", and he headed up the writing staff and oversaw all aspects of the show's production.

During his time as showrunner he was credited with writing or co-writing five episodes: " Treehouse of Horror VIII " (" The HΩmega Man " segment ), " Sunday, Cruddy Sunday ", " Beyond Blunderdome ", " Behind the Laughter " and " The Parent Rap ".

He also returned in season 14 to write and executive produce the episode " How I Spent My Strummer Vacation ", and co-wrote and co-produced The Simpsons Movie in 2007.

Scully was popular with the staff members, many of whom praised his organization and management skills.

Writer Tom Martin said he was " quite possibly the best boss I've ever worked for " and " a great manager of people " while Don Payne commented that for Scully " it was really important that we kept decent hours ".

As of 2012, Scully still works on The Simpsons as a consulting producer for one day a week.