diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/scale.go b/pkg/kubectl/scale.go
index 648ab62cd6..4226ef5d4f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/scale.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/scale.go
@@ -27,7 +27,9 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/batch"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/apis/extensions"
 	client "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/fields"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/util/wait"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/watch"
 )
 
 // Scaler provides an interface for resources that can be scaled.
@@ -171,15 +173,23 @@ func (scaler *ReplicationControllerScaler) Scale(namespace, name string, newSize
 		retry = &RetryParams{Interval: time.Millisecond, Timeout: time.Millisecond}
 	}
 	cond := ScaleCondition(scaler, preconditions, namespace, name, newSize)
-	if err := wait.Poll(retry.Interval, retry.Timeout, cond); err != nil {
+	if err := wait.PollImmediate(retry.Interval, retry.Timeout, cond); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if waitForReplicas != nil {
-		rc, err := scaler.c.ReplicationControllers(namespace).Get(name)
+		watchOptions := api.ListOptions{FieldSelector: fields.OneTermEqualSelector("metadata.name", name), ResourceVersion: "0"}
+		watcher, err := scaler.c.ReplicationControllers(namespace).Watch(watchOptions)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		err = wait.Poll(waitForReplicas.Interval, waitForReplicas.Timeout, client.ControllerHasDesiredReplicas(scaler.c, rc))
+		_, err = watch.Until(waitForReplicas.Timeout, watcher, func(event watch.Event) (bool, error) {
+			if event.Type != watch.Added && event.Type != watch.Modified {
+				return false, nil
+			}
+
+			rc := event.Object.(*api.ReplicationController)
+			return rc.Status.ObservedGeneration >= rc.Generation && rc.Status.Replicas == rc.Spec.Replicas, nil
+		})
 		if err == wait.ErrWaitTimeout {
 			return fmt.Errorf("timed out waiting for %q to be synced", name)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/stop_test.go b/pkg/kubectl/stop_test.go
index 05b5955b94..aa116f3c1f 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/stop_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/stop_test.go
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/client/unversioned/testclient"
 	deploymentutil "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/controller/deployment/util"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/runtime"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/watch"
 )
 
 func TestReplicationControllerStop(t *testing.T) {
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ func TestReplicationControllerStop(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			StopError:       nil,
-			ExpectedActions: []string{"get", "list", "get", "update", "get", "get", "delete"},
+			ExpectedActions: []string{"get", "list", "get", "update", "watch", "delete"},
 		},
 		{
 			Name: "NoOverlapping",
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ func TestReplicationControllerStop(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 			StopError:       nil,
-			ExpectedActions: []string{"get", "list", "get", "update", "get", "get", "delete"},
+			ExpectedActions: []string{"get", "list", "get", "update", "watch", "delete"},
 		},
 		{
 			Name: "OverlappingError",
@@ -242,9 +243,20 @@ func TestReplicationControllerStop(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
+		copiedForWatch, err := api.Scheme.Copy(test.Objs[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s unexpected error: %v", test.Name, err)
+		}
 		fake := testclient.NewSimpleFake(test.Objs...)
+		fakeWatch := watch.NewFake()
+		fake.PrependWatchReactor("replicationcontrollers", testclient.DefaultWatchReactor(fakeWatch, nil))
+
+		go func() {
+			fakeWatch.Add(copiedForWatch)
+		}()
+
 		reaper := ReplicationControllerReaper{fake, time.Millisecond, time.Millisecond}
-		err := reaper.Stop(ns, name, 0, nil)
+		err = reaper.Stop(ns, name, 0, nil)
 		if !reflect.DeepEqual(err, test.StopError) {
 			t.Errorf("%s unexpected error: %v", test.Name, err)
 			continue