diff --git a/backends/json/json.cc b/backends/json/json.cc
index 287c01ead..197223c63 100644
--- a/backends/json/json.cc
+++ b/backends/json/json.cc
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ struct JsonWriter
 	bool use_selection;
 	bool aig_mode;
 	bool compat_int_mode;
+	bool scopeinfo_mode;
 
 	Design *design;
 	Module *module;
@@ -43,9 +44,9 @@ struct JsonWriter
 	dict<SigBit, string> sigids;
 	pool<Aig> aig_models;
 
-	JsonWriter(std::ostream &f, bool use_selection, bool aig_mode, bool compat_int_mode) :
+	JsonWriter(std::ostream &f, bool use_selection, bool aig_mode, bool compat_int_mode, bool scopeinfo_mode) :
 			f(f), use_selection(use_selection), aig_mode(aig_mode),
-			compat_int_mode(compat_int_mode) { }
+			compat_int_mode(compat_int_mode), scopeinfo_mode(scopeinfo_mode) { }
 
 	string get_string(string str)
 	{
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ struct JsonWriter
 				continue;
 			// Eventually we will want to emit $scopeinfo, but currently this
 			// will break JSON netlist consumers like nextpnr
-			if (c->type == ID($scopeinfo))
+			if (!scopeinfo_mode && c->type == ID($scopeinfo))
 				continue;
 			f << stringf("%s\n", first ? "" : ",");
 			f << stringf("        %s: {\n", get_name(c->name).c_str());
@@ -356,6 +357,9 @@ struct JsonBackend : public Backend {
 		log("    -selected\n");
 		log("        output only select module\n");
 		log("\n");
+		log("    -scopeinfo\n");
+		log("        include $scopeinfo cells in the output\n");
+		log("\n");
 		log("\n");
 		log("The general syntax of the JSON output created by this command is as follows:\n");
 		log("\n");
@@ -601,6 +605,7 @@ struct JsonBackend : public Backend {
 		bool aig_mode = false;
 		bool compat_int_mode = false;
 		bool use_selection = false;
+		bool scopeinfo_mode = false;
 
 		size_t argidx;
 		for (argidx = 1; argidx < args.size(); argidx++)
@@ -617,13 +622,17 @@ struct JsonBackend : public Backend {
 				use_selection = true;
 				continue;
 			}
+			if (args[argidx] == "-scopeinfo") {
+				scopeinfo_mode = true;
+				continue;
+			}
 			break;
 		}
 		extra_args(f, filename, args, argidx);
 
 		log_header(design, "Executing JSON backend.\n");
 
-		JsonWriter json_writer(*f, use_selection, aig_mode, compat_int_mode);
+		JsonWriter json_writer(*f, use_selection, aig_mode, compat_int_mode, scopeinfo_mode);
 		json_writer.write_design(design);
 	}
 } JsonBackend;
@@ -648,6 +657,9 @@ struct JsonPass : public Pass {
 		log("        emit 32-bit or smaller fully-defined parameter values directly\n");
 		log("        as JSON numbers (for compatibility with old parsers)\n");
 		log("\n");
+		log("    -scopeinfo\n");
+		log("        include $scopeinfo cells in the output\n");
+		log("\n");
 		log("See 'help write_json' for a description of the JSON format used.\n");
 		log("\n");
 	}
@@ -656,6 +668,7 @@ struct JsonPass : public Pass {
 		std::string filename;
 		bool aig_mode = false;
 		bool compat_int_mode = false;
+		bool scopeinfo_mode = false;
 
 		size_t argidx;
 		for (argidx = 1; argidx < args.size(); argidx++)
@@ -672,6 +685,10 @@ struct JsonPass : public Pass {
 				compat_int_mode = true;
 				continue;
 			}
+			if (args[argidx] == "-scopeinfo") {
+				scopeinfo_mode = true;
+				continue;
+			}
 			break;
 		}
 		extra_args(args, argidx, design);
@@ -693,7 +710,7 @@ struct JsonPass : public Pass {
 			f = &buf;
 		}
 
-		JsonWriter json_writer(*f, true, aig_mode, compat_int_mode);
+		JsonWriter json_writer(*f, true, aig_mode, compat_int_mode, scopeinfo_mode);
 		json_writer.write_design(design);
 
 		if (!empty) {
diff --git a/tests/various/json_scopeinfo.ys b/tests/various/json_scopeinfo.ys
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50219f16e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/various/json_scopeinfo.ys
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+read_verilog <<EOT
+module top(input in, output out);
+	wire [1:0] w1, w2;
+	f1_test u1 (.in(in), .out(w1[0]));
+	f2_test u2 (.in(w1), .out(w2));
+	f3_test u3 (.in(w2[0]), .out(out));
+endmodule
+
+module f1_test(input in, output out);
+	assign out = in;
+endmodule
+
+module f2_test(input [1:0] in, output [1:0] out);
+	assign out[0] = in[0];
+	assign out[1] = in[1];
+endmodule
+
+module f3_test(input in, output [1:0] out);
+	assign out[0] = in;
+	assign out[1] = in;
+endmodule
+EOT
+
+hierarchy -top top
+flatten -scopename
+prep
+
+write_json json_scopeinfo.out
+!grep -qvF '$scopeinfo' json_scopeinfo.out
+
+write_json -scopeinfo json_scopeinfo.out
+!grep -qF '$scopeinfo' json_scopeinfo.out
+
+json -o json_scopeinfo.out
+!grep -qvF '$scopeinfo' json_scopeinfo.out
+
+json -scopeinfo -o json_scopeinfo.out
+!grep -qF '$scopeinfo' json_scopeinfo.out