Senior MEP David Martin says that an expert group set up by the Scottish government in the wake of the Brexit result has agreed to look at "key areas for future development."
Martin, a Scottish Socialist member of the European Parliament, was speaking after the inaugural meeting of the Scottish Government's Standing Council on Europe.
It was set up after the European referendum result on 23 June and met for the first time in Edinburgh on Thursday.
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After the meeting, Martin told this website, "The first standing council meeting was very constructive and was focused on assessing the current situation and identifying priority areas going forward."
Martin, a former vice president of parliament and one of the longest serving MEPs, added, "Three key areas for future development were discussed: keeping up the pressure on the UK government.
"They are: picking out areas where Scotland already has devolved powers and where it might still be possible to cooperate in EU programmes like Erasmus; and finally maintaining high visibility in Brussels, reminding our European partners that this is a very important issue in the eyes of Scots and that we voted differently from England and Wales."
The meeting comes after a visit to Brussels by Stephen Gethins, the Scottish Nationalist Party's (SNP) Europe spokesman, who was in the European parliament earlier this week to lobby support for Scotland's case to stay in the EU.
On Friday, Gethins also told the Parliament Magazine: "Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain a member of the EU and the SNP is committed to ensuring that the will of the Scottish people is respected.
"The SNP Scottish government is currently exploring every possible option when it comes to protecting Scotland's place in Europe which includes the first meeting of the standing council of experts.
"The democratic will of the Scottish people must be recognised and the SNP's message is absolutely clear: we are serious about protecting Scotland's interests and our place in the EU."
The Standing Council is made up of 18 of legal, financial and business specialists with the aim of "securing Scotland's relationship with the EU."
The council is chaired by Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal of Glasgow University, and features European Court judge Sir David Edward, Glasgow Airport chief executive Amanda McMillan and MEPs David Martin and Alyn Smith, among others.
Meanwhile, former SNP leader Alex Salmond has predicted Scottish independence is inevitable and warned new UK PM Theresa May: "Don't mess with the people of Scotland."
He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Lateline programme: "I think independence for Scotland is inevitable."
The former first minister said that May will have to give way under pressure from Holyrood for another independence referendum if SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon decides that is the best way to protect Scotland's place in the EU.
Salmond's warning came ahead of May's meeting with Sturgeon on Friday morning in Edinburgh where the pair were expected to discuss the June referendum in which the UK voted to leave the EU but Scotland did not.
The EU referendum put the future of the UK in jeopardy, as both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay part of the EU while England and Wales voted to leave.
Sturgeon has said the Scottish government's "overriding objective is to protect Scotland's relationship with and place in the EU," adding that, "The Standing Council on Europe will provide advice on how best to achieve those objectives."
She said, "More than 60% per cent of voters in Scotland wanted to stay in the EU to protect the jobs, investment and trade that depend on it. We chose to be an open, inclusive and outward-looking society where other EU citizens are welcome to live, work and contribute, and we voted to protect the freedom and prosperity that comes with our rights to travel, live, work and study in other European countries."
Meanwhile Gethins told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We can find innovative solutions to this if only the Westminster government are willing to listen.
"If you look at the way that the EU and the UK have found solutions over the past 40 years I would be very surprised, if there is a political will, if we can't find a solution to this particular impasse."
He added: "There are a wide range of options. I think that independence could be one of the ways. The evidence that was given suggests that maybe that's the easiest way to find your way into the EU.
"But there are other ways of doing it, which is why the Scottish Government is working with other parties to find a solution to this."
His comments come as a new poll has highlighted strong support for Scotland's place in Europe from citizens across the continent.
The formal question from a poll commissioned by YouGov Euro Track was: "Would you endorse or reject Scotland joining the EU if it became separate from Great Britain?"
The results found 71 per cent of people in Germany, 61 per cent of people in France and 67 per cent of people in Denmark were in favour of an independent Scotland staying in the EU.
There was also majority support for an independent Scotland in Europe in Finland and Sweden.
In the UK, backing for an independent Scotland in the EU was 41 per cent compared to 29 per cent against.
The standing council comprises specialists in legal, financial, business and diplomatic matters. Its members are:
- Chair: Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice Chancellor, University of Glasgow
- Vasco Cal, former economic adviser at the European Commission
- Sir David Edward, European Court Judge
- David Frost, whisky, trade expert, former diplomat
- Dame Anne Glover, former chief scientific adviser to President Barosso
- Charles Grant, Centre for European Reform, London
- John Kay, financial markets
- Lord Kerr, diplomat, deputy chair ScottishPower, Carnegie Trust
- Dame Mariot Leslie, diplomat
- David Martin, MEP
- Amanda McMillan, CEO Glasgow Airport
- Professor Alan Miller, former chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission
- Anne Richards, M&G Investments & Edinburgh University Court
- Frances P. Ruane, Irish academic economist & former director of ESRI
- Alyn Smith, MEP
- Grahame Smith, STUC, Scotland Europa
- Professor Andrew Scott, University of Edinburgh
- Fabian Zuleeg, European Policy Centre, Brussels