I am pretty new to Wizardry so I apologize if these questions sound dumb.

I finally made my party and started the game.

How the heck do I use non-combat skills? How does my ranger use scout? Is it automatic if I am in search mode? Will the skill go up this way?

Skills in Wizardry 8 are used pretty much as needed. If a character pickpockets and they have the skill, there's a chance that it will rise. A ranger's scouting skill is considered "on" all the time, and may rise if they find something. If you right click on an unknown inventory item and identify it, someone in your party (it seems almost random) with the artifact skill could possibly gain a point in it.

Hope that helps.

The Ranger is always searching so you don't have to turn on search to find things. In fact you want to leave search off, when it is on there is more chance of being caught off guard by the enemy. lol