diff --git a/src/config.coffee b/src/config.coffee
index 685a354f0..d0db72711 100644
--- a/src/config.coffee
+++ b/src/config.coffee
@@ -708,15 +708,6 @@ class Config
       .join(' ')
     @scopedSettingsStore.getPropertyValue(scopeChain, keyPath)
 
-  # TODO: figure out how to remove this. Only language mode uses it for one thing.
-  scopedSettingsForScopeDescriptor: (scopeDescriptor, keyPath) ->
-    scopeChain = scopeDescriptor
-      .map (scope) ->
-        scope = ".#{scope}" unless scope[0] is '.'
-        scope
-      .join(' ')
-    @scopedSettingsStore.getProperties(scopeChain, keyPath)
-
   clearScopedSettings: ->
     @scopedSettingsStore = new ScopedPropertyStore
 
diff --git a/src/language-mode.coffee b/src/language-mode.coffee
index 6e1e79d2f..89d9130c8 100644
--- a/src/language-mode.coffee
+++ b/src/language-mode.coffee
@@ -30,11 +30,11 @@ class LanguageMode
   # Returns an {Array} of the commented {Ranges}.
   toggleLineCommentsForBufferRows: (start, end) ->
     scopes = @editor.scopesForBufferPosition([start, 0])
-    properties = atom.syntax.propertiesForScope(scopes, "editor.commentStart")[0]
-    return unless properties
+    properties = atom.config.get(scopes, "editor")
+    return unless properties.commentStart
 
-    commentStartString = _.valueForKeyPath(properties, "editor.commentStart")
-    commentEndString = _.valueForKeyPath(properties, "editor.commentEnd")
+    commentStartString = properties.commentStart
+    commentEndString = properties.commentEnd
 
     return unless commentStartString