Looked after it and mended scratched tops (6)
I believe the answer is:
tended
'looked after' is the definition.
(tending is a kind of looking after)
'it and mended scratched tops' is the wordplay.
'it' becomes ''t' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'scratched tops' means to remove the first letter (top letters are removed).
'mended' with its initial letter removed is 'ended'.
't'+'ended'='TENDED'
(Other definitions for tended that I've seen before include "Inclined towards or took care of" , "Took care of, had certain inclination" , "Had leaning or inclination toward" , "Inclined or leaned towards" , "Had an inclination, or looked after" .)