diff --git a/plugins/ps/functions.go b/plugins/ps/functions.go
index 3a1b6abd9..e62a4064d 100644
--- a/plugins/ps/functions.go
+++ b/plugins/ps/functions.go
@@ -381,10 +381,6 @@ func scaleReport(appName string) error {
 }
 
 func scaleSet(appName string, skipDeploy bool, processTuples []string) error {
-	if !canScaleApp(appName) {
-		return fmt.Errorf("App %s contains DOKKU_SCALE file and cannot be manually scaled", appName)
-	}
-
 	scale, err := parseProcessTuples(processTuples)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/plugins/ps/subcommands.go b/plugins/ps/subcommands.go
index 9c675f872..ed15efcf7 100644
--- a/plugins/ps/subcommands.go
+++ b/plugins/ps/subcommands.go
@@ -134,6 +134,10 @@ func CommandScale(appName string, skipDeploy bool, processTuples []string) error
 		return scaleReport(appName)
 	}
 
+	if !canScaleApp(appName) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("App %s contains DOKKU_SCALE file and cannot be manually scaled", appName)
+	}
+
 	return scaleSet(appName, skipDeploy, processTuples)
 }