The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for estimating scatter in positron emission tomography, comprising processing circuitry configured to acquire an emission map and an attenuation map, each representing an initial image reconstruction of a positron emission tomography scan, calculate, using a radiative transfer equation (RTE) method, a scatter source map of a subject of the positron emission tomography scan based on the emission map and the attenuation map, estimate, using the RTE method and based on the emission map, the attenuation map, and the scatter source map, scatter, and perform an iterative image reconstruction of the positron emission tomography scan based on the estimated scatter and raw data from the positron emission tomography scan of the subject.