Born in Córdoba, Argentina, Scalabroni studied mechanical engineering at the National Technological University in Buenos Aires. His early career was spent in Argentine motorsport, where he worked for the Formula Renault Fama team from 1975 and subsequently with the Osvaldo Antelo Renault F2 and Miguel Herceg Ford Turismo Carretera factory-backed outfits. During this period he also designed and built his own Formula Renault and national Formula 2 single-seater cars in Argentina.
He arrived in Europe in 1982 at the age of 32, initially finding work in Italy.
Scalabroni's first European role was with the Dallara Automobili group, where he designed the company's first wind tunnel and one of the pioneer carbon monocoque chassis for small single-seaters — a trend-setting Formula 3 car for the 1983 season featuring rearward-sloping sidepods.
Williams F1 recruited him as a designer in 1985. At Williams, Scalabroni contributed a substantial part of the design of the six-speed sequential gearbox that the team pioneered for Formula One.
Following John Barnard's departure from Ferrari, Scalabroni joined the Scuderia in September 1989 as chassis and aerodynamics chief designer. He developed Barnard's Ferrari 640 carbon chassis and co-designed the Ferrari 641 and 641/2 with Steve Nichols. Those cars won six races in 1990 with Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell and earned Ferrari second place in the Constructors' Championship.
In 1991, Scalabroni moved to the Lotus F1 Team, producing the Lotus 102B for drivers Johnny Herbert, Mika Häkkinen, and Julian Bailey. Before leaving Lotus he conceived an ambitious project for an F1 car with wheels arranged in a rhomboid configuration — two protruding from the car's sides at mid-length, one at the front, and one at the rear — a concept that went unfunded.
During the same period Scalabroni served as a consultant on the De Tomaso Guarà sports car, contributing chassis and suspension design, and was also involved in the development of the Biguá, later sold on and renamed the Qvale Mangusta.
Towards the end of 1992, Scalabroni joined Peugeot Sport, working on the "avant projet" Formula One car under André de Cortanze and Jean Todt. When PSA's leadership declined to fund an F1 programme, Todt departed for Ferrari and Scalabroni eventually moved to a venture led by Takeo Ikuzawa, spending two years designing and testing scale models for a planned F1 car before that project too was halted.
Scalabroni remained associated with Ikuzawa through 1998, designing systems for the Japanese automotive and motorcycle industry and filing several patents. Williams re-hired him in 1998 for British Touring Car Championship work, applying aerodynamic and mechanical solutions to their Renault Lagunas.
At the end of his Williams consultancy, Scalabroni established what became the Asiatech engine Formula 1 project, brokering the purchase of Peugeot's F1 engine assets and renaming the programme Asiatech F1. Asiatech supplied engines to Arrows in 2001 and Minardi in 2002 before closing at year's end due to a lack of financing and suitable customer teams.
In 2003, Scalabroni founded BCN Competición, based in Granollers near Barcelona, in partnership with Spanish businessman Jaume Pintanel. The team competed in Formula Nissan Lights and then Formula 3000, where driver Enrico Toccacelo secured a victory and a second-place finish in the 2003 championship. Scalabroni obtained a GP2 Series licence for 2004 and the team competed in the series through the end of 2008, when he sold the licence and cars to a group associated with Portuguese driver Tiago Monteiro, who established the Ocean Racing Technology team.
Scalabroni's career represents a distinctive South American contribution to the upper echelons of Formula One engineering. His work across five major teams — Dallara, Williams, Ferrari, Lotus, and Peugeot — and his role in developing several influential chassis and drivetrain concepts, including the Ferrari 641 championship contender and Williams' sequential gearbox, place him among the notable technical figures of 1980s and 1990s Formula One.