diff --git a/dev-infra/pr/merge/failures.ts b/dev-infra/pr/merge/failures.ts
index 3966692e50..b1ae0b70a5 100644
--- a/dev-infra/pr/merge/failures.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/pr/merge/failures.ts
@@ -71,9 +71,9 @@ export class PullRequestFailure {
     return new this(`Pull request could not be found upstream.`);
   }
 
-  static insufficientPermissionsToMerge() {
-    return new this(
-        `Insufficient Github API permissions to merge pull request. Please ` +
-        `ensure that your auth token has write access.`);
+  static insufficientPermissionsToMerge(
+      message = `Insufficient Github API permissions to merge pull request. Please ensure that ` +
+          `your auth token has write access.`) {
+    return new this(message);
   }
 }
diff --git a/dev-infra/pr/merge/git.ts b/dev-infra/pr/merge/git.ts
index 32cc1d5704..e91d443f27 100644
--- a/dev-infra/pr/merge/git.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/pr/merge/git.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,15 @@
 import * as Octokit from '@octokit/rest';
 import {spawnSync, SpawnSyncOptions, SpawnSyncReturns} from 'child_process';
 
-import {info} from '../../utils/console';
+import {info, yellow} from '../../utils/console';
 
 import {MergeConfigWithRemote} from './config';
 
+/** Github response type extended to include the `x-oauth-scopes` headers presence. */
+type RateLimitResponseWithOAuthScopeHeader = Octokit.Response<Octokit.RateLimitGetResponse>&{
+  headers: {'x-oauth-scopes': string};
+};
+
 /** Error for failed Github API requests. */
 export class GithubApiRequestError extends Error {
   constructor(public status: number, message: string) {
@@ -43,6 +48,8 @@ export class GitClient {
   /** Instance of the authenticated Github octokit API. */
   api: Octokit;
 
+  /** The OAuth scopes available for the provided Github token. */
+  private _oauthScopes = Promise.resolve<string[]>([]);
   /** Regular expression that matches the provided Github token. */
   private _tokenRegex = new RegExp(this._githubToken, 'g');
 
@@ -117,4 +124,55 @@ export class GitClient {
   omitGithubTokenFromMessage(value: string): string {
     return value.replace(this._tokenRegex, '<TOKEN>');
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Assert the GitClient instance is using a token with permissions for the all of the
+   * provided OAuth scopes.
+   */
+  async hasOauthScopes(...requestedScopes: string[]): Promise<true|{error: string}> {
+    const missingScopes: string[] = [];
+    const scopes = await this.getAuthScopes();
+    requestedScopes.forEach(scope => {
+      if (!scopes.includes(scope)) {
+        missingScopes.push(scope);
+      }
+    });
+    // If no missing scopes are found, return true to indicate all OAuth Scopes are available.
+    if (missingScopes.length === 0) {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Preconstructed error message to log to the user, providing missing scopes and
+     * remediation instructions.
+     **/
+    const error =
+        `The provided <TOKEN> does not have required permissions due to missing scope(s): ` +
+        `${yellow(missingScopes.join(', '))}\n\n` +
+        `Update the token in use at:\n` +
+        `  https://github.com/settings/tokens\n\n` +
+        `Alternatively, a new token can be created at: https://github.com/settings/tokens/new\n`;
+
+    return {error};
+  }
+
+
+  /**
+   * Retrieves the OAuth scopes for the loaded Github token, returning the already retrived
+   * list of OAuth scopes if available.
+   **/
+  private getAuthScopes() {
+    // If the OAuth scopes have already been loaded, return the Promise containing them.
+    if (this._oauthScopes) {
+      return this._oauthScopes;
+    }
+    // OAuth scopes are loaded via the /rate_limit endpoint to prevent
+    // usage of a request against that rate_limit for this lookup.
+    this._oauthScopes = this.api.rateLimit.get().then(_response => {
+      const response = _response as RateLimitResponseWithOAuthScopeHeader;
+      const scopes: string = response.headers['x-oauth-scopes'] || '';
+      return scopes.split(',').map(scope => scope.trim());
+    });
+    return this._oauthScopes;
+  }
 }
diff --git a/dev-infra/pr/merge/index.ts b/dev-infra/pr/merge/index.ts
index 61238071bd..c01abd0865 100644
--- a/dev-infra/pr/merge/index.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/pr/merge/index.ts
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ export async function mergePullRequest(
             red('An unknown Git error has been thrown. Please check the output ' +
                 'above for details.'));
         return false;
+      case MergeStatus.GITHUB_ERROR:
+        error(red('An error related to interacting with Github has been discovered.'));
+        error(failure!.message);
+        return false;
       case MergeStatus.FAILED:
         error(yellow(`Could not merge the specified pull request.`));
         error(red(failure!.message));
diff --git a/dev-infra/pr/merge/task.ts b/dev-infra/pr/merge/task.ts
index e85065322d..cadfe60b49 100644
--- a/dev-infra/pr/merge/task.ts
+++ b/dev-infra/pr/merge/task.ts
@@ -13,12 +13,16 @@ import {isPullRequest, loadAndValidatePullRequest,} from './pull-request';
 import {GithubApiMergeStrategy} from './strategies/api-merge';
 import {AutosquashMergeStrategy} from './strategies/autosquash-merge';
 
+/** Github OAuth scopes required for the merge task. */
+const REQUIRED_SCOPES = ['repo'];
+
 /** Describes the status of a pull request merge. */
 export const enum MergeStatus {
   UNKNOWN_GIT_ERROR,
   DIRTY_WORKING_DIR,
   SUCCESS,
   FAILED,
+  GITHUB_ERROR,
 }
 
 /** Result of a pull request merge. */
@@ -48,6 +52,15 @@ export class PullRequestMergeTask {
    * @param force Whether non-critical pull request failures should be ignored.
    */
   async merge(prNumber: number, force = false): Promise<MergeResult> {
+    // Assert the authenticated GitClient has access on the required scopes.
+    const hasOauthScopes = await this.git.hasOauthScopes(...REQUIRED_SCOPES);
+    if (hasOauthScopes !== true) {
+      return {
+        status: MergeStatus.GITHUB_ERROR,
+        failure: PullRequestFailure.insufficientPermissionsToMerge(hasOauthScopes.error)
+      };
+    }
+
     if (this.git.hasUncommittedChanges()) {
       return {status: MergeStatus.DIRTY_WORKING_DIR};
     }