Provided is a scanning endoscope system including an illumination-light emitting unit that outputs illumination light emitted from a light source in a spot-like manner toward a subject, a light scanner that scans the illumination light output from the illumination-light emitting unit over the subject, and a light detector that is provided in a movable manner relative to the illumination-light emitting unit and that detects reflection light from a scan position on the subject over which the illumination light is scanned by the light scanner.