'Gor blimey gov it's a fair cop and no mistake' - How do we deal with dialect/accents in written fiction?

 I recently read 'The Mote in Gods Eye' by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle first released in the 1970s.  I enjoyed the book, but a number of characters had a pronounced Scottish accent which when written down I found distracting.   So, how do we deal with accents in fiction?  My blog: http://wp.me/p3ycbY-aq