Financial Information for Guarantor Subsidiaries and Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries - Supplemental Condensed Consolidating Statement of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	$ 837	$ 812
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	307	297
Selling, general and administrative	186	172
Research and development	49	54
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	165	188
Restructuring and other	7	52
Operating (loss) income	123	49
Interest expense	(154)	(155)
Loss on debt financing transactions	0	(93)
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	5	(1)
Other income (expense), net	6	3
Net income (loss) before income taxes	(20)	(196)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	0	0
Income tax (expense) benefit	(4)	(6)
Net (loss) income	(24)	(202)
Other comprehensive income	51	52
Comprehensive income (loss)	27	(150)
Reportable Legal Entities | SGI (Issuer)
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	158	130
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	101	86
Selling, general and administrative	11	11
Research and development	1	0
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	12	8
Restructuring and other	0	1
Operating (loss) income	33	24
Interest expense	(154)	(155)
Loss on debt financing transactions		(93)
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	5
Other income (expense), net	132	136
Net income (loss) before income taxes	16	(88)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	7	4
Income tax (expense) benefit	(5)	33
Net (loss) income	18	(51)
Other comprehensive income	9	(17)
Comprehensive income (loss)	27	(68)
Reportable Legal Entities | SGC (Parent)
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	0	0
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	0	0
Selling, general and administrative	35	38
Research and development	0	0
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	12	9
Restructuring and other	1	26
Operating (loss) income	(48)	(73)
Interest expense	0	0
Loss on debt financing transactions		0
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	0
Other income (expense), net	20	15
Net income (loss) before income taxes	(28)	(58)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	6	(84)
Income tax (expense) benefit	(2)	(60)
Net (loss) income	(24)	(202)
Other comprehensive income	51	52
Comprehensive income (loss)	27	(150)
Reportable Legal Entities | Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	358	387
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	102	118
Selling, general and administrative	59	58
Research and development	23	23
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	99	126
Restructuring and other	2	1
Operating (loss) income	73	61
Interest expense	0	0
Loss on debt financing transactions		0
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	0
Other income (expense), net	(124)	(133)
Net income (loss) before income taxes	(51)	(72)
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	11	10
Income tax (expense) benefit	13	25
Net (loss) income	(27)	(37)
Other comprehensive income	2	22
Comprehensive income (loss)	(25)	(15)
Reportable Legal Entities | Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	385	369
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	152	154
Selling, general and administrative	94	79
Research and development	25	31
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	47	48
Restructuring and other	4	24
Operating (loss) income	63	33
Interest expense	0	0
Loss on debt financing transactions		0
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	0
Other income (expense), net	(22)	(15)
Net income (loss) before income taxes	41	18
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	0	0
Income tax (expense) benefit	(10)	(4)
Net (loss) income	31	14
Other comprehensive income	71	73
Comprehensive income (loss)	102	87
Eliminating Entries
Condensed Financial Statements
Revenue	(64)	(74)
Cost of services, cost of product sales and cost of instant products	(48)	(61)
Selling, general and administrative	(13)	(14)
Research and development	0	0
Depreciation, amortization and impairments	(5)	(3)
Restructuring and other	0	0
Operating (loss) income	2	4
Interest expense	0	0
Loss on debt financing transactions		0
Gain (loss) on remeasurement of debt	0
Other income (expense), net	0	0
Net income (loss) before income taxes	2	4
Equity in (loss) income of subsidiaries	(24)	70
Income tax (expense) benefit	0	0
Net (loss) income	(22)	74
Other comprehensive income	(82)	(78)
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ (104)	$ (4)