diff --git a/openstackclient/api/auth.py b/openstackclient/api/auth.py
index 66272e4..2cde7d4 100644
--- a/openstackclient/api/auth.py
+++ b/openstackclient/api/auth.py
@@ -135,8 +135,12 @@ def build_auth_params(auth_plugin_name, cmd_options):
     return (auth_plugin_class, auth_params)
 
 
-def check_valid_auth_options(options, auth_plugin_name):
-    """Perform basic option checking, provide helpful error messages"""
+def check_valid_auth_options(options, auth_plugin_name, required_scope=True):
+    """Perform basic option checking, provide helpful error messages.
+
+    :param required_scope: indicate whether a scoped token is required
+
+    """
 
     msg = ''
     if auth_plugin_name.endswith('password'):
@@ -146,7 +150,8 @@ def check_valid_auth_options(options, auth_plugin_name):
         if not options.auth.get('auth_url', None):
             msg += _('Set an authentication URL, with --os-auth-url,'
                      ' OS_AUTH_URL or auth.auth_url\n')
-        if (not options.auth.get('project_id', None) and not
+        if (required_scope and not
+                options.auth.get('project_id', None) and not
                 options.auth.get('domain_id', None) and not
                 options.auth.get('domain_name', None) and not
                 options.auth.get('project_name', None) and not
diff --git a/openstackclient/common/clientmanager.py b/openstackclient/common/clientmanager.py
index dce1972..48b3aca 100644
--- a/openstackclient/common/clientmanager.py
+++ b/openstackclient/common/clientmanager.py
@@ -113,19 +113,35 @@ class ClientManager(object):
         root_logger = logging.getLogger('')
         LOG.setLevel(root_logger.getEffectiveLevel())
 
-    def setup_auth(self):
+        # NOTE(gyee): use this flag to indicate whether auth setup has already
+        # been completed. If so, do not perform auth setup again. The reason
+        # we need this flag is that we want to be able to perform auth setup
+        # outside of auth_ref as auth_ref itself is a property. We can not
+        # retrofit auth_ref to optionally skip scope check. Some operations
+        # do not require a scoped token. In those cases, we call setup_auth
+        # prior to dereferrencing auth_ref.
+        self._auth_setup_completed = False
+
+    def setup_auth(self, required_scope=True):
         """Set up authentication
 
+        :param required_scope: indicate whether a scoped token is required
+
         This is deferred until authentication is actually attempted because
         it gets in the way of things that do not require auth.
         """
 
+        if self._auth_setup_completed:
+            return
+
         # If no auth type is named by the user, select one based on
         # the supplied options
         self.auth_plugin_name = auth.select_auth_plugin(self._cli_options)
 
         # Basic option checking to avoid unhelpful error messages
-        auth.check_valid_auth_options(self._cli_options, self.auth_plugin_name)
+        auth.check_valid_auth_options(self._cli_options,
+                                      self.auth_plugin_name,
+                                      required_scope=required_scope)
 
         # Horrible hack alert...must handle prompt for null password if
         # password auth is requested.
@@ -180,6 +196,8 @@ class ClientManager(object):
             user_agent=USER_AGENT,
         )
 
+        self._auth_setup_completed = True
+
         return
 
     @property
diff --git a/openstackclient/shell.py b/openstackclient/shell.py
index 137446e..dfec40a 100644
--- a/openstackclient/shell.py
+++ b/openstackclient/shell.py
@@ -353,6 +353,9 @@ class OpenStackShell(app.App):
             cmd.__class__.__name__,
         )
         if cmd.auth_required:
+            if hasattr(cmd, 'required_scope'):
+                # let the command decide whether we need a scoped token
+                self.client_manager.setup_auth(cmd.required_scope)
             # Trigger the Identity client to initialize
             self.client_manager.auth_ref
         return
diff --git a/openstackclient/tests/common/test_clientmanager.py b/openstackclient/tests/common/test_clientmanager.py
index 523f79a..ef46f61 100644
--- a/openstackclient/tests/common/test_clientmanager.py
+++ b/openstackclient/tests/common/test_clientmanager.py
@@ -325,3 +325,28 @@ class TestClientManager(utils.TestCase):
             exc.CommandError,
             client_manager.setup_auth,
         )
+
+    @mock.patch('openstackclient.api.auth.check_valid_auth_options')
+    def test_client_manager_auth_setup_once(self, check_auth_options_func):
+        client_manager = clientmanager.ClientManager(
+            cli_options=FakeOptions(
+                auth=dict(
+                    auth_url=fakes.AUTH_URL,
+                    username=fakes.USERNAME,
+                    password=fakes.PASSWORD,
+                    project_name=fakes.PROJECT_NAME,
+                ),
+            ),
+            api_version=API_VERSION,
+            verify=False,
+        )
+        self.assertFalse(client_manager._auth_setup_completed)
+        client_manager.setup_auth()
+        self.assertTrue(check_auth_options_func.called)
+        self.assertTrue(client_manager._auth_setup_completed)
+
+        # now make sure we don't do auth setup the second time around
+        # by checking whether check_valid_auth_options() gets called again
+        check_auth_options_func.reset_mock()
+        client_manager.auth_ref
+        check_auth_options_func.assert_not_called()