diff --git a/cred_scanner.py b/cred_scanner.py
index e72cdcc..d3365b3 100644
--- a/cred_scanner.py
+++ b/cred_scanner.py
@@ -3,33 +3,54 @@
 import sys
 import click
 
+EXCLUDED_DIRS = {'.git', '__pycache__', 'venv'}
+ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS = {'.py', '.txt', '.env', '.cfg', '.json', '.yaml', '.yml'}
+
+AWS_KEY_PATTERN = r'(?<![A-Z0-9])[A-Z0-9]{20}(?![A-Z0-9])'
+SECRET_KEY_PATTERN = r'(?<![A-Za-z0-9/+=])[A-Za-z0-9/+=]{40}(?![A-Za-z0-9/+=])'
+
 @click.command()
-@click.option('--path', default='.', help='Path other than the local directory to scan')
-@click.option('--secret', is_flag=True, help='Also look for Secret Key patterns. This may result in many false matches due to the nature of secret keys.')
-def scan(path, secret):
+@click.option('--path', default='.', help='Directory path to scan')
+@click.option('--secret', is_flag=True, help='Scan for generic secret key patterns too')
+@click.option('--log', type=click.Path(), help='Log results to a file')
+def scan(path, secret, log):
     fail = False
-    for dirname, dirnames, filenames in os.walk(path):
-        # print path to all subdirectories first.
-        for subdirname in dirnames:
-            print(os.path.join(dirname, subdirname))
-
-        # print path to all filenames.
-        for filename in filenames:
-            click.echo(os.path.join(dirname, filename))
-            f = open(os.path.join(dirname, filename))
-            if secret:
-                pattern = re.compile('(?<![A-Z0-9])[A-Z0-9]{20}(?![A-Z0-9])|(?<![A-Za-z0-9/+=])[A-Za-z0-9/+=]{40}(?![A-Za-z0-9/+=])')
-            else:
-                pattern = re.compile('(?<![A-Z0-9])[A-Z0-9]{20}(?![A-Z0-9])')
+    findings = []
+
+    for root, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
+        # Ignore excluded directories
+        dirs[:] = [d for d in dirs if d not in EXCLUDED_DIRS]
+
+        for file in files:
+            file_path = os.path.join(root, file)
+            _, ext = os.path.splitext(file)
+            if ext.lower() not in ALLOWED_EXTENSIONS:
+                continue
+
             try:
-                for i, line in enumerate(f):
-                    for match in re.finditer(pattern, line):
-                        click.secho('Found AWS Access Key in ' + os.path.join(dirname, filename,), fg='red')
-                        fail = True
-            except UnicodeDecodeError:
-                click.secho("Can't scan file due to type: " + os.path.join(dirname, filename), fg='red')
-                pass
-    if fail == True:
+                with open(file_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                    content = f.readlines()
+            except (UnicodeDecodeError, PermissionError) as e:
+                click.secho(f"Skipped binary or unreadable file: {file_path}", fg='yellow')
+                continue
+
+            pattern = f"{AWS_KEY_PATTERN}|{SECRET_KEY_PATTERN}" if secret else AWS_KEY_PATTERN
+            regex = re.compile(pattern)
+
+            for i, line in enumerate(content):
+                for match in regex.finditer(line):
+                    finding = f"Found possible secret in {file_path} at line {i+1}: {match.group()}"
+                    click.secho(finding, fg='red')
+                    findings.append(finding)
+                    fail = True
+
+    if log and findings:
+        with open(log, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as logfile:
+            logfile.write("\n".join(findings))
+        click.secho(f"\nFindings written to {log}", fg='blue')
+
+    if fail:
         sys.exit(1)
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    scan()
\ No newline at end of file
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    scan()