After his retirement from PAEC in 2000, Butt begin public advocacy for the benefits of the nanotechnology and engaged in providing education when he was appointed Chairman of National Commission on Nano-Science and Technology (NCNST) in 2003 and led till 2005. In addition, he also served as the chairman of Pakistan Science Foundation until 2010 where the PSF initiated several awareness programs on nanotechnology in Pakistan.
After 1998, Butt effectively countered the anti-nuclear movement in the country to roll back the country's nuclear capability by noting in the public that the country would also have to roll back its programs at its national laboratories and cutting-edge research in nuclear technology as it was being useful in energy generation, medicines, agriculture, medical usage of lasers, electronics, supercomputing, nanotechnology, and communication technology.
In 2010 interview with the news media, Butt also vehemently dismissed the American concerns about his nations atomic weapons fall into the hands of terrorists as "farce claim" noting that they would be unable to select sequence targets to launch the missiles since they dont have required scientific education to understand the locking and triggering mechanism to activate nuclear devices.