First I pick a lick I want to play, then I look for the note & scale degree (or degrees) I want to use.  If I'm playing a blues in A, then I look for an A note, think of that as scale degree one, then play the lick I want to play.  The lick usually involves seeing the scale degrees around the one, or in the shape I'm using for that lick.

This is why it's important to learn licks (little musical phrases).  Otherwise what are you going to do with the scale pattern?  If you don't know licks, then you are just playing the scale straight up or down, or randomly.  That won't sound musical or last for long.

But all of this requires a lot of work up front.  Learn some licks, build your vocabulary.  Then while you are doing that, look at the scale degrees you are using in the licks.  That's why the lick sounds the way it does.  Find another way to use that lick.  Move it up or down an octave.  Change the rhythmic phrasing.  Play it in reverse order.  Learn another lick, repeat the process.

Make sense?