diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/Setting.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/Setting.java
index 606326dd295..44e440500ff 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/Setting.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/Setting.java
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
+import java.util.Enumeration;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.function.BiConsumer;
@@ -119,18 +121,11 @@ public class Setting<T> extends ToXContentToBytes {
         this.key = key;
         this.defaultValue = defaultValue;
         this.parser = parser;
-        // We validate scope settings. We should have one and only one.
-        int numScopes = 0;
-        for (Property property : properties) {
-            if (property == Property.NodeScope ||
-                property == Property.IndexScope) {
-                numScopes++;
-            }
+        if (properties.length == 0) {
+            this.properties = EnumSet.noneOf(Property.class);
+        } else {
+            this.properties = EnumSet.copyOf(Arrays.asList(properties));
         }
-        if (numScopes != 1) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Zero or more than one scope has been added to the setting [" + key + "]");
-        }
-        this.properties = EnumSet.copyOf(Arrays.asList(properties));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModule.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModule.java
index ee770f74756..9fc2ee257a0 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModule.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModule.java
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ public class SettingsModule extends AbstractModule {
                 registerSettingsFilter(setting.getKey());
             }
         }
+
+        // We validate scope settings. We should have one and only one scope.
+        if (setting.hasNodeScope() && setting.hasIndexScope()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("More than one scope has been added to the setting [" + setting.getKey() + "]");
+        }
         if (setting.hasNodeScope()) {
             if (nodeSettings.containsKey(setting.getKey())) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot register setting [" + setting.getKey() + "] twice");
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingTests.java
index b2654092067..1c1f06f5914 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingTests.java
@@ -435,18 +435,14 @@ public class SettingTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(setting.hasIndexScope(), is(true));
         assertThat(setting.hasNodeScope(), is(false));
 
-        // Those should fail
-        try {
-            Setting.simpleString("foo.bar");
-            fail("Zero scope should fail");
-        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Zero or more than one scope has been added to the setting"));
-        }
-        try {
-            Setting.simpleString("foo.bar", Property.IndexScope, Property.NodeScope);
-            fail("Multiple scopes should fail");
-        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("Zero or more than one scope has been added to the setting"));
-        }
+        // We accept settings with no scope but they will be rejected when we register with SettingsModule.registerSetting
+        setting = Setting.simpleString("foo.bar");
+        assertThat(setting.hasIndexScope(), is(false));
+        assertThat(setting.hasNodeScope(), is(false));
+
+        // We accept settings with multiple scopes but they will be rejected when we register with SettingsModule.registerSetting
+        setting = Setting.simpleString("foo.bar", Property.IndexScope, Property.NodeScope);
+        assertThat(setting.hasIndexScope(), is(true));
+        assertThat(setting.hasNodeScope(), is(true));
     }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModuleTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModuleTests.java
index a8b5824f8ec..bc6afda9a01 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModuleTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/SettingsModuleTests.java
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ package org.elasticsearch.common.settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.ModuleTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting.Property;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
+
 public class SettingsModuleTests extends ModuleTestCase {
 
     public void testValidate() {
@@ -149,4 +152,24 @@ public class SettingsModuleTests extends ModuleTestCase {
         assertInstanceBinding(module, SettingsFilter.class, (s) -> s.filter(settings).getAsMap().get("bar.baz").equals("false"));
 
     }
+
+    public void testMutuallyExclusiveScopes() {
+        new SettingsModule(Settings.EMPTY).registerSetting(Setting.simpleString("foo.bar", Property.NodeScope));
+        new SettingsModule(Settings.EMPTY).registerSetting(Setting.simpleString("foo.bar", Property.IndexScope));
+
+        // Those should fail
+        try {
+            new SettingsModule(Settings.EMPTY).registerSetting(Setting.simpleString("foo.bar"));
+            fail("No scope should fail");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("No scope found for setting"));
+        }
+        // Those should fail
+        try {
+            new SettingsModule(Settings.EMPTY).registerSetting(Setting.simpleString("foo.bar", Property.IndexScope, Property.NodeScope));
+            fail("Multiple scopes should fail");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("More than one scope has been added to the setting"));
+        }
+    }
 }