The Dark Blues face Australia at Murrayfield this weekend after missing out on a historic first win over the All Blacks, where they lost 22-17 in a thrilling encounter.
Ryan Wilson returns to the back row in place of Cornell du Preez after recovering from a shoulder injury, while Sean Maitland is added to the back line after being recently added to the squad.
Grant Gilchrist and Simon Berghan also come into the starting XV, with Ben Toolis and Zander Fagerson dropping to the bench and Lee Jones missing out altogether.
Scotland, 7/4 shots with Sky Bet, have enjoyed recent success against the Wallabies and beat them in the summer in Townsend's second match in charge.
The head coach is looking for more of the same.
"Scotland's recent history against Australia has been one of close-fought matches and, after a couple of narrow defeats, we managed to record a win last June out in Sydney," he said.
"Our players have been training hard and will draw on all they've learned in the games against Samoa and New Zealand to rise to the challenge of this final Autumn Test."
He added: "This is the third and final game of our autumn series and the players are looking forward to ending it on a high.
"Last weekend's game was a proper Test match - intense, competitive and full of drama. Unfortunately, we just fell short of our goal, and were disappointed with the loss, but take confidence going into the game against Australia."
Scotland team: S Hogg; T Seymour, H Jones, A Dunbar (all Glasgow), S Maitland (Saracens); F Russell, A Price (both Glasgow); D Marfo, S McInally, S Berghan; G Gilchrist (all Edinburgh), J Gray (Glasgow); J Barclay (Scarlets), H Watson (Edinburgh), R Wilson (Glasgow).
Replacements: F Brown, J Bhatti, Z Fagerson (all Glasgow), B Toolis, C du Preez (both Edinburgh), H Pyrgos, P Horne (both Glasgow), B McGuigan (Sale).
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