Scheffer studied at Uppsala University from 1725 to 1731, studying mathematics under Anders Celsius.[4][2] He then began work at the Swedish Board of Mines as an auskultant [sv] – an unpaid civil servant allowed to take part in the agency's negotiations – and studied under Georg Brandt. While working there, chemist Gustaf von Engeström was one of his students. Scheffer became director of the Ädelfors gold mine in 1739 and began working as an assayer (myntproberare) in 1752.
In addition to valuable essays in the journal Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar [sv] of the Academy of Sciences, Scheffer is notable for his 1752 survey of platinum, which at that time was proven to be a previously unknown noble metal, and the method of separating gold from silver by means of sulfuric acid. His Chemical Lectures[5] (published by Torbern Bergman 1775, third edition 1796) was of considerable importance for the study of chemistry in Sweden.
Scheffer married Ulrika Maria Clerck in 1737. He died in Stockholm in 1759.