Mary Scanlon is a woman who loves her sons, Joe and Frank, to extremes since she is always showing up at her old house, which she sold to them and is cooking them dinner. She also continues to host poker nights and holiday dinners at her sons' home.

Mary loved her husband Joe, but he was a drunk and abusive to the children. Years after his death, she dated Mike Corbin, buying the Recovery Room bar with him. She found true happiness with Victor Collins, Kevin's spacy, genius father. They married after dating for a few years. They've participated in several adventures together, including Victor's "death" after being captured by spies, and working with Joe and Courtney Kanelos to save grandson Neil after he had been kidnappyed by his grandparents on his adopted father's side.

In 1998, Mary had a stroke and had to temporarily live with Frank and Joe. She also had many problems with Joe's girlfriend, Karen Wexler, especially her past as a stripper and drug addict. They managed to patch their differences up, which comes in handy, since Karen is now dating Frank.

Mary was an active participant in the nurses' strike a few years ago, and was very angry when her sons crossed the picket line.

Mary has always been a minor character, and is rarely seen with PC's new format. She did show up during Time in a Bottle, as her 1973 self, pregnant with Joe. She met adult son Frank, not knowing who he was or that her young boy would grow up to be him.

In April 2001, Mary and Victor stumbled upon a candle, which, unbeknownst to them, caused arousal when lit. They quickly bought the candle to enjoy more interludes. A candle led to sharp mood swings, calling Karen a "whore" and "tramp", and eventually institutionalizing for Frank. Mary blamed Karen, as always, but she was the true culprit, through no fault of her own. When Frank and Joe were boys, Mary became close to a man from her church, who was going through a difficult time with his life. Mary felt unappreciated by her drunken, abusive husband, and began to sleep with this man from her church. Frank was hiding in the closet one day and saw them. He then saw his father stumble into the room, drunk, toss the man out, and verbally assault Mary, calling her a "whore" and "tramp". Mary regretted her behavior deeply, which probably caused her obsessively puritanical attitude towards her sons' girlfriends.

These horrible memories remained in Frank's head for years, dormant, until the Desire candle unleashed them. Mary tearfully apologized, and Frank forgave her.