Hooker Ford, 33, set a new mark of 110 caps in Saturday's 27-22 defeat by Fiji - a match in which the forward scored his fifth international try.
Paterson, who played on the wing, at full-back and fly-half for Scotland, played with Ford at international level and at Edinburgh.
"It's an incredible achievement," said Paterson, 39.
"It's great for Ross to achieve that in a position that is confrontational, physical, hard work on the body - as every position is on the rugby field, but sometimes more so up front at the coalface, as they say. It's brilliant.
"I was lucky enough to play alongside him for a long time and take a lot of pleasure in his performances, so, I'm absolutely delighted that he's going to go on to do more.
"I think of some of his recent performances and they are some of his best - the two tries against Italy in Singapore, the game against Georgia in November, I thought he was outstanding - his ball carrying, he was dynamic.
"The second last game of the season for Edinburgh last season where Edinburgh played the Dragons at Myreside, it was an incredible finish. Edinburgh scored two tries in the final two or three minutes to win the game.
"He came off the bench, made a massive impact with two crucial tackles; turnovers, was carrying the ball, brought drive and determination - he transformed that game.
"The longer you're in the game, the harder it gets. More's expected of you, you have to deliver and that's why it's so impressive that Ross has reached these achievements, and there's more to come."
Fraser Brown replaced Ford in Suva and also crossed for Gregor Townsend's side.
And Paterson believes the increased competition at Edinburgh, who also have Stuart McInally, Neil Cochrane and George Turner available at hooker, has been good for Ford.
"It's driven him on to continually set the standards and be an outstanding player, which I think he'll be for at least a couple of years to come," Paterson said.
With 809 points, Paterson remains the highest points scorer for his country.
"The nice part is that you set yourself goals and if you achieve them, then you can be proud of these goals and I was delighted to reach the milestone of being Scotland's top points scorer but that'll be beaten at some point," he added.
"It may not be Fordie but somebody will beat it.
"If part of what I've managed to achieve in my career is set a target for somebody else to break then we'll all be happy because it'll mean Scotland are performing well."
Chris Paterson is "delighted" that Ross Ford has surpassed his record of appearances for Scotland.