The first bishop of Scutari whose name is recorded is a certain Bassus (387). Initially, Scutari belonged to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Thessalonica; in 412 it is mentioned as the metropolitan see of the province of "Praevalitana"; after the city's destruction in 877, it came under the new metropolis of Dioclea; in 1062 it is listed as a suffragan of Antivari.
From the 7th century until the mid-12th century, no bishops of Scutari are known. The most distinguished bishop of Scutari is considered to be Domenico Andrijasević, O.F.M. (d. in Rome in 1639), a renowned philosopher and theologian, friend of Gregory XV and Urban VIII.
On March 15, 1867, Scutari was restored as an archdiocese, united *aeque principaliter* with Antivari. On September 8, 1886, it was separated from Antivari and on April 22, 1887, it was established as a metropolitan see with the suffragan dioceses of Alessio, Pulati, and Sappa. The provincial council of Scutari in 1871 renewed the decrees of the First Albanian National Council of 1703 (Mansi, XXXV, 1375-1436; XLII, 345-454). A third provincial council was held in 1895. The Pontifical Albanian Seminary in Scutari, founded in 1837 as a diocesan seminary, became regional for Albania, Macedonia, and Serbia in 1843, and a Pontifical Seminary in 1862, under the direction of the Jesuits. Scutari is also the seat of a Greek-Ruthenian bishop.
Due to the persecution in Albania, it is impossible to provide precise data on the current situation of the archdiocese. The episcopal see is vacant, the seminary has been dissolved, and 12 priests have been killed. The regent of the Apostolic Delegation, Msgr. Francesco Gjin, bishop of Alessio, was shot. The last official statistics, from 1940, report 25,540 Catholics out of a population of 66,890 souls (38%) in the archdiocese, with 78 priests, more than half Franciscans and Jesuits, 6 churches, and 59 chapels.