Research by The Local Data Company (LDC) and the University of Stirling found the average retail vacancy rate dropped from 14.5% to 13.7%.
East Kilbride has the highest rate of all Scottish towns, at 33%, while Inverurie has the lowest, at 1%.
The study found that 40% of Scotland's empty shops have remained vacant for more than three years.
It also suggested that town vacancy rates have improved at twice the rate of Scotland's cities.
The most improved towns were Anstruther, Clydebank, Dumfries, Inverkeithing, Lochgelly, Peterhead and Pitlochry.
Five towns have maintained vacancy rates at less than 6% for the last three years - Inverurie, Ellon, North Berwick, Dunbar and Biggar.
At the other end of the scale, rates in five towns have remained above 22% over the last three years - Banff, Dumbarton, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Ardrossan.
Dundee had the highest proportion of persistent vacancy, at 11%.
Anstruther was found to have the highest proportion of independent shops (86%), while Gretna had the lowest (5%).
Leisure is an increasingly significant presence in cities and towns, accounting for 39% of total stock in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Leisure businesses also account for more than 30% of shops in Renfrew, St Andrews, Lochgelly and Fort William.
Aberdeen has the highest proportion of charity shops for a city, at 4.2%, while Penicuik in Midlothian has the greatest proportion of charity shops for a town, at 8.9%.
Matthew Hopkinson, director at the Local Data Company, said: "The report identifies important trends as well as quashes common perceptions that deprived towns can't succeed.
"Of particular significance is that in many Scottish towns almost 40% of the vacant units have been vacant for more than three years.
"Such a stark figure implies obsolescence and a major barrier to healthy and sustainable places and communities."
The study looked into the health of high streets in more than 100 cities and towns north of the border.

The regulator, NHS Improvement, said it wanted more progress after the NHS had slipped behind schedule in its efforts to reduce the agency bill.
Last year £3.6bn was spent on agency staff, but the regulator wants that brought down by £1bn by the end of this financial year.
A cap was introduced in October and has so far saved £600m, the regulator said.
It means hospitals, mental health trusts and ambulance services should not be paying more than 55% above normal shift rates for any staff, from doctors and nurses to administration staff. Only senior managers are exempted.
The aim was to reduce the overall cost of agency staff as well as getting hospitals to reduce their reliance on them.
Agency staff are more expensive because the NHS has to cover the agency fees and employers costs, such as National Insurance contributions, when it buys them in.
NHS Improvement said the progress being made was "promising", but it still leaves the NHS short.
The latest accounts suggested NHS trusts were 10% down on where they wanted to be.
And while the agency bill is falling it is not yet clear whether spending on other parts of the pay bill has risen.
The figures released by NHS Improvement do not cover NHS "bank" staff - effectively the health service's in-house agency - or money spent getting employed staff to do overtime.
NHS Improvement said it would start publishing "league tables" of the best and worst-performing trusts on agency spending later this year.
Information on the 20 highest-earning agency staff per trust would also be collected amid suspicion some people are still earning large sums from agency work.
It found examples of hospitals being quoted double the rates for doctors. In one case a trust was quoted £130 an hour for a surgeon when the cap is meant to be £76, while another was quoted £70 an hour for a junior doctor when the fee is meant to be £35.
NHS Improvement chief executive Jim Mackey said: "The NHS simply doesn't have the money to keep forking out for hugely expensive agency staff. There's much more to be done."
The number of empty shops on Scotland's high streets has fallen in the past year, according to a new report.
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NHS bosses are threatening to "name and shame" trusts in England as they try to crack down on agency spending.