The Paul Scherrer Institute is planning the construction of an X-ray free electron laser (SwissFEL), which will produce 20-fs pulses of coherent X-rays in the wavelength range 0.1-7 nm, with peak brightness approximately 10¹⁰ times that of a third-generation synchrotron beamline. The brightness, the coherence and the short pulses will provide opportunities for performing novel science in the fields of chemistry, biochemistry, solid-state physics and materials science. It is planned that the SwissFEL will be operational by the end of 2016. The present article focuses on promising SwissFEL applications in the field of time-resolved X-ray scattering from chemical systems.