  Here we discuss color-kinematics duality for higher-derivative QCD-like
amplitudes. We explicitly show that the duality still holds in this case and it
can be instrumental in constructing the associated quadratic-gravity amplitudes
by using the double-copy prescription. This allows one to drastically simplify
calculations. We also evaluate some tree-level Compton scattering amplitudes in
higher-derivative Yang-Mills and quadratic gravity coupled with matter.
Furthermore, we illustrate the application of generalized unitarity method for
both cases by studying a specific one-loop amplitude.
