Thomas Kennedy and Dave Challinor were key figures as Bury played attractive football with Andy Keogh performing well on his debut.
Lee Ridley played a leading roll in the Scuthorpe rearguard with centre back Andy Butler coming up with vital challenges in the early stages.
Scunthorpe opened brightly and it was a set piece that saw them take a sixth minute lead.
Peter Beagrie's corner from the left saw Bulter rise to head home his seventh goal of the campaign.
The Shakers were not unduly troubled and it took a smart recovery by Ridley to hold Keogh who had got the better of Andy Crosby.
Bury began to improve and a mis-kick by Beagrie saw the ball fall to Challinor whose left foot shot whistled inches wide.
That was followed in the 28th minute by Simon Whaley whose brilliant 25-yard shot crashed of the underside of the bar with Paul Musselwhite beaten.
Bury's threat became a reality in the 31st minute when Kennedy's cross was met by Chris Porter who headed home from close range.
Bury established a lead within two minutes of the start when Keogh, a former loan player at Scunthorpe and making his debut for the visitors, broke down the left and drove the ball home.
That seemed to be the wake up call for Scunthorpe and they began to sweep forward in ever increasing numbers and grabbed a 64th minute equaliser.
Beagrie's left-wing corner was punched out by Andy Marriott and knocked back in by Cleveland Taylor before Steve Torpey went in bravely to head home.
Beagrie then thundered a free-kick against the woodwork as Scunthorpe began to dominate proceedings.
Scunthorpe's main threat at this stage was coming from substitute Taylor whose speed could not be matched by the Bury defence.
And this brought late dividends when he fired the ball in from the right and Torpey was on hand to head home his 11th goal of the campaign.