diff --git a/pkg/client/fake/client.go b/pkg/client/fake/client.go
index d70237e950..b3819926c0 100644
--- a/pkg/client/fake/client.go
+++ b/pkg/client/fake/client.go
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ func (t versionedTracker) Update(gvr schema.GroupVersionResource, obj runtime.Ob
 	isStatus := false
 	// We apply patches using a client-go reaction that ends up calling the trackers Update. As we can't change
 	// that reaction, we use the callstack to figure out if this originated from the status client.
-	if bytes.Contains(debug.Stack(), []byte("sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/fake.(*fakeSubResourceClient).Patch")) {
+	if bytes.Contains(debug.Stack(), []byte("sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/fake.(*fakeSubResourceClient).statusPatch")) {
 		isStatus = true
 	}
 	return t.update(gvr, obj, ns, isStatus, false)
@@ -1090,6 +1090,15 @@ func (sw *fakeSubResourceClient) Patch(ctx context.Context, obj client.Object, p
 		body = patchOptions.SubResourceBody
 	}
 
+	// this is necessary to identify that last call was made for status patch, through stack trace.
+	if sw.subResource == "status" {
+		return sw.statusPatch(body, patch, patchOptions)
+	}
+
+	return sw.client.patch(body, patch, &patchOptions.PatchOptions)
+}
+
+func (sw *fakeSubResourceClient) statusPatch(body client.Object, patch client.Patch, patchOptions client.SubResourcePatchOptions) error {
 	return sw.client.patch(body, patch, &patchOptions.PatchOptions)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/client/fake/client_test.go b/pkg/client/fake/client_test.go
index bc857d7be8..810cf5499c 100644
--- a/pkg/client/fake/client_test.go
+++ b/pkg/client/fake/client_test.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/fake"
+	"k8s.io/utils/pointer"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/interceptor"
@@ -1590,6 +1591,28 @@ var _ = Describe("Fake client", func() {
 		Expect(objOriginal.Status.Phase).ToNot(Equal(actual.Status.Phase))
 	})
 
+	It("should be able to change typed objects that have a scale subresource on patch", func() {
+		obj := &appsv1.Deployment{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "deploy",
+			},
+		}
+		cl := NewClientBuilder().WithObjects(obj).Build()
+		objOriginal := obj.DeepCopy()
+
+		patch := []byte(fmt.Sprintf(`{"spec":{"replicas":%d}}`, 2))
+		Expect(cl.SubResource("scale").Patch(context.Background(), obj, client.RawPatch(types.MergePatchType, patch))).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+
+		actual := &appsv1.Deployment{ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: obj.Name}}
+		Expect(cl.Get(context.Background(), client.ObjectKeyFromObject(actual), actual)).To(Succeed())
+
+		objOriginal.APIVersion = actual.APIVersion
+		objOriginal.Kind = actual.Kind
+		objOriginal.ResourceVersion = actual.ResourceVersion
+		objOriginal.Spec.Replicas = pointer.Int32(2)
+		Expect(cmp.Diff(objOriginal, actual)).To(BeEmpty())
+	})
+
 	It("should not change the status of typed objects that have a status subresource on patch", func() {
 		obj := &corev1.Pod{
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{