Scout ships or scout craft were reconnaissance craft that could be detached from a mothership. The Hydrax had three scout ships fronted with bolts of steel. One of these was used by the Fourth Doctor to impale and kill the King Vampire. (TV: State of Decay)
According to the Time Lords' Dalek Combat Training Manual, the Dalek space capsule which crashed on Vulcan was a scout craft used for reconnaissance missions. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual, The Power of the Daleks) Another Dalek scout ship once crashed on Hyspero. (PROSE: The Scarlet Empress)
The Sontarans had spherical scout ships that each contained a single Sontaran. (TV: The Time Warrior)
The CyberMondans Bremm and Gramm from Mondas were sent in a scout craft on a mission to find Earth. Their craft crash-landed in the mountains of Austria in 19th century. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk) Another scouting party was sent out, finding planets whose lifeforms were incompatible to receive cyber-conversion, only to hit a time storm when they found Earth, preventing them from signalling Mondas. (AUDIO: Way of the Burryman)
The Zalphons deployed scout ships from their mothership in the lead-up to their attempted invasion of Earth. On 12 July, 1979, one of these scout ships accidentally collided with Skylab, and deployed escape pods which landed in rural Western Australia. (PROSE: Bennelong Point)