Huang was admired by Lee Teng-hui, who was helpful throughout Huang's political career. In 1979, Lee then Mayor of Taipei, appointed Huang as the mayoral adviser and the Secretary-General of the Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission, Executive Yuan. Two years later, when Lee became the chief executive of Taiwan Province, Huang followed Lee to the Taiwan Provincial Government and was appointed the Deputy Secretary-General. After returning to National Taiwan University in 1984 as a professor, he was appointed the Secretary-General of Taipei City Government in 1987. He became the acting Mayor of Taipei in May 1990, replacing Wu Poh-hsiung. In October, he was appointed Mayor of Taipei by President Lee Teng-hui. During the final year of Huang's term, under the pressure of democratization, the office of mayor became directly elected. Huang is the last Mayor of Taipei to have served via presidential appointment.
After his session in the Olympic Committee in 2005, he returned to his academic research in agricultural science. He invented a new method of nurturing strawberry. He is currently a professor of Toko University in Taiwan.