It's a good question: of all the engineers in the world, why choose a Scottish engineer? Gene Roddenberry probably chose a Scottish engineer because of this guy: That's James Watt, the same guy the unit of energy watt is named after. He was a Scottish inventor and mechancial engineer who built the first made significant improvements to the steam engine. Made sense in the 60's, however given the past hundred years if they were to make a new Star Trek they might have started with a German engineer...