What is the role of a data scientist or decision scientist? How does maths and computer science play an important role in becoming one? Can one become a data scientist without a PhD?

What is the role of a data scientist: to create data products. These data products either support decision (interactive) or add functionality to generate lift (automated).How does maths and computer science play a role: It is fundamentally a quantitative skills based role. However the final products are not possible without programming. I don't go as far as saying that computer science as a field is vital but some of the skills involved in computer science are important.Can one become a data scientist without a PhD: For the nth time: YES!

The role of a data scientist, or rather what the title means, varies from place to place, although those who use Excel and have no math or stats background are slowly getting weeded out.  There are a lot of people doing "data science"-type work without the title.  They can be called applied statisticians, computer scientists, data analysts, BI professionals... the list goes on.  In my mind, and the opinions of many I've read, the step from being, say, a data analyst to a data scientist (in terms of what you actually do, not your title) is how broad a scope and how in depth you get into solving problems with data - one of the possible roles of a data scientist.Mathematical, statistical, and programming skills (preferably with some CS theory) are usually all components of a good data scientist's make-up.And yes, you can be a data scientist without a PhD.  You can be a good data scientist without a degree, but it's difficult:  you have to learn the material on your own (hard), learn that material correctly (harder) and be able to convince companies of your value (quite hard).