diff --git a/src/cursor.coffee b/src/cursor.coffee
index 47ab7fdc3..09f083c0a 100644
--- a/src/cursor.coffee
+++ b/src/cursor.coffee
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ class Cursor extends Model
     @editor.scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition(@getBufferPosition())
   getScopes: ->
     Grim.deprecate 'Use Cursor::getScopeDescriptor() instead'
-    @getScopeDescriptor()
+    @getScopeDescriptor().getScopesArray()
 
   # Public: Returns true if this cursor has no non-whitespace characters before
   # its current position.
diff --git a/src/scope-descriptor.coffee b/src/scope-descriptor.coffee
index 7cf64d239..8de28a2a0 100644
--- a/src/scope-descriptor.coffee
+++ b/src/scope-descriptor.coffee
@@ -16,11 +16,11 @@
 # for more information.
 module.exports =
 class ScopeDescriptor
-  @fromObject: (descriptor) ->
-    if descriptor instanceof ScopeDescriptor
-      descriptor
+  @fromObject: (scopes) ->
+    if scopes instanceof ScopeDescriptor
+      scopes
     else
-      new ScopeDescriptor({descriptor})
+      new ScopeDescriptor({scopes})
 
   ###
   Section: Construction and Destruction
@@ -29,11 +29,14 @@ class ScopeDescriptor
   # Public: Create a {ScopeDescriptor} object.
   #
   # * `object` {Object}
-  #   * `descriptor` {Array} of {String}s
-  constructor: ({@descriptor}) ->
+  #   * `scopes` {Array} of {String}s
+  constructor: ({@scopes}) ->
+
+  # Public: Returns an {Array} of {String}s
+  getScopesArray: -> @scopes
 
   getScopeChain: ->
-    @descriptor
+    @scopes
       .map (scope) ->
         scope = ".#{scope}" unless scope[0] is '.'
         scope
diff --git a/src/text-editor.coffee b/src/text-editor.coffee
index 3f4175ce4..211fbe73c 100644
--- a/src/text-editor.coffee
+++ b/src/text-editor.coffee
@@ -2386,10 +2386,11 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
   # * `bufferPosition` A {Point} or {Array} of [row, column].
   #
   # Returns a {ScopeDescriptor}.
-  scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition: (bufferPosition) -> @displayBuffer.scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition(bufferPosition)
+  scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition: (bufferPosition) ->
+    @displayBuffer.scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition(bufferPosition)
   scopesForBufferPosition: (bufferPosition) ->
-    deprecate 'Use ::scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition instead'
-    @scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition(bufferPosition)
+    deprecate 'Use ::scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition instead. The return value has changed! It now returns a `ScopeDescriptor`'
+    @scopeDescriptorForBufferPosition(bufferPosition).getScopesArray()
 
   # Extended: Get the range in buffer coordinates of all tokens surrounding the
   # cursor that match the given scope selector.
@@ -2417,11 +2418,11 @@ class TextEditor extends Model
   tokenForBufferPosition: (bufferPosition) -> @displayBuffer.tokenForBufferPosition(bufferPosition)
 
   scopesAtCursor: ->
-    deprecate 'Use editor.getLastCursor().scopesAtCursor() instead'
-    @getLastCursor().getScopeDescriptor()
+    deprecate 'Use editor.getLastCursor().getScopeDescriptor() instead'
+    @getLastCursor().getScopeDescriptor().getScopesArray()
   getCursorScopes: ->
-    deprecate 'Use editor.getLastCursor().scopesAtCursor() instead'
-    @scopesAtCursor()
+    deprecate 'Use editor.getLastCursor().getScopeDescriptor() instead'
+    @scopesAtCursor().getScopesArray()
 
   ###
   Section: Clipboard Operations
diff --git a/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee b/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
index fddbdc2e6..55d8510ef 100644
--- a/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/tokenized-buffer.coffee
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class TokenizedBuffer extends Model
     return if grammar is @grammar
     @unsubscribe(@grammar) if @grammar
     @grammar = grammar
-    @rootScopeDescriptor = new ScopeDescriptor(descriptor: [@grammar.scopeName])
+    @rootScopeDescriptor = new ScopeDescriptor(scopes: [@grammar.scopeName])
     @currentGrammarScore = score ? grammar.getScore(@buffer.getPath(), @buffer.getText())
     @subscribe @grammar.onDidUpdate => @retokenizeLines()
 
@@ -304,7 +304,7 @@ class TokenizedBuffer extends Model
       0
 
   scopeDescriptorForPosition: (position) ->
-    new ScopeDescriptor(descriptor: @tokenForPosition(position).scopeDescriptor)
+    new ScopeDescriptor(scopes: @tokenForPosition(position).scopeDescriptor)
 
   tokenForPosition: (position) ->
     {row, column} = Point.fromObject(position)