After six seasons with Rush Athletic, Scanlan moved to Dublin rivals Swords Celtic. She returned to Rush Athletic and won Leinster Senior League Division Two honours with the club in 1990–91. In 1992 Scanlan took up a soccer scholarship to Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania. She was selected to the All-American team in 1994 and 1995 and was named both Division II Player of the Year and Conference Player of the Year.
While playing for Bristol Academy, Scanlan was employed as the head coach of the Female Football Development Centre at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. She left to take up a post as assistant coach at Troy University, where she had previously worked as a graduate coach between 1999 and 2001 while completing a Master's degree in Education.
In February 2000 Scanlan was named the 1999 FAI Women's Senior International Player of the Year.
She won a total of 57 senior caps and scored seven goals before retiring in 2009. In February of that year a half-time presentation during the Irish men's national team World Cup qualifier against Georgia at Croke Park recognised Scanlan's contribution to Irish football.
Scanlan is also on the coaching staff of the FAI and was an assistant coach of the Irish team who reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
