He merged his organization into the Boy Scouts of America when it was founded in 1910. Beard became one of the first National Scout Commissioners of the Boy Scouts and served it for 30 years. The work of both Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton are in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement.

Beard also helped his sister organize the Camp Fire Girls and became president of the Camp Fire Club of America. Beard was a Freemason in a New York Lodge, and an award for Masonic Scouters has been named in his honor.

Beard founded Boy Scouts Troop 1 in Flushing, New York, which is believed to be the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troop in the United States. Beard became an Eagle Scout on February 15, 1915.

Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Dan Beard was recipient of the only "gold Eagle badge" awarded at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina.

Dan Beard was also involved with the Culver Academies' summer camp program for many years, which used his "Sons of Daniel Boone" program. This program still exists as the Academy's Culver Woodcraft Camp.

Beard died on June 11, 1941, shortly before his 91st birthday at his home (named "Brooklands") in Suffern, New York. He was buried near his home at the Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York. The National Program Director of the Boy Scouts of America, E. Urner Goodman, was selected to be in charge of the beloved youth leader's funeral in Suffern. An estimated 2,000 people lined the funeral route to the cemetery in Monsey, New York, where formed an honor guard and assisted with traffic control.

The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, which carries I-471 across the Ohio River, was named for him. A life-size bronze statue of Daniel Carter Beard and Boy Scout, created by world-renowned sculptor Kenneth Bradford, stands in Covington, Kentucky. The nearby Daniel Carter Beard Boyhood Home is now a National Historic Landmark in the Riverside Drive Historic District.

At the Philmont Scout Ranch in the Western Region, there is a staffed campsite named after him. At that campsite scouts work on low impact camping and participate in team building activities. The campsite is also on the edge of the Valle Vidal, and much vegetation around it is burned down due to many fires.

The J.H.S. 189 Daniel Carter Beard School in Flushing, New York carries his name, also a park near by the school also has the same name. In addition, Daniel Carter Beard School in Chicago, Illinois bears his name. A framed portrait of the old Scout greets all visitors as they enter the school.

The more camping-intensive half of the Forestburg Scout Camp in Forestburg, NY is named after Dan Beard.

At Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation: Camp Saffron, in Maryland, there is a campsite named after him.