diff --git a/backend/drive/drive.go b/backend/drive/drive.go
index a268e8b07..de2cc0307 100644
--- a/backend/drive/drive.go
+++ b/backend/drive/drive.go
@@ -128,29 +128,6 @@ var (
 	_linkTemplates   map[string]*template.Template // available link types
 )
 
-// Parse the scopes option returning a slice of scopes
-func driveScopes(scopesString string) (scopes []string) {
-	if scopesString == "" {
-		scopesString = defaultScope
-	}
-	for _, scope := range strings.Split(scopesString, ",") {
-		scope = strings.TrimSpace(scope)
-		scopes = append(scopes, scopePrefix+scope)
-	}
-	return scopes
-}
-
-// Returns true if one of the scopes was "drive.appfolder"
-func driveScopesContainsAppFolder(scopes []string) bool {
-	for _, scope := range scopes {
-		if scope == scopePrefix+"drive.appfolder" {
-			return true
-		}
-
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
 // Register with Fs
 func init() {
 	fs.Register(&fs.RegInfo{
@@ -165,14 +142,18 @@ func init() {
 				fs.Errorf(nil, "Couldn't parse config into struct: %v", err)
 				return
 			}
-
 			// Fill in the scopes
-			driveConfig.Scopes = driveScopes(opt.Scope)
-			// Set the root_folder_id if using drive.appfolder
-			if driveScopesContainsAppFolder(driveConfig.Scopes) {
-				m.Set("root_folder_id", "appDataFolder")
+			if opt.Scope == "" {
+				opt.Scope = defaultScope
+			}
+			driveConfig.Scopes = nil
+			for _, scope := range strings.Split(opt.Scope, ",") {
+				driveConfig.Scopes = append(driveConfig.Scopes, scopePrefix+strings.TrimSpace(scope))
+				// Set the root_folder_id if using drive.appfolder
+				if scope == "drive.appfolder" {
+					m.Set("root_folder_id", "appDataFolder")
+				}
 			}
-
 			if opt.ServiceAccountFile == "" {
 				err = oauthutil.Config("drive", name, m, driveConfig)
 				if err != nil {
@@ -794,8 +775,7 @@ func newPacer(opt *Options) *fs.Pacer {
 }
 
 func getServiceAccountClient(opt *Options, credentialsData []byte) (*http.Client, error) {
-	scopes := driveScopes(opt.Scope)
-	conf, err := google.JWTConfigFromJSON(credentialsData, scopes...)
+	conf, err := google.JWTConfigFromJSON(credentialsData, driveConfig.Scopes...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "error processing credentials")
 	}
diff --git a/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go b/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
index c1b9108f8..e894f9a3f 100644
--- a/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
+++ b/backend/drive/drive_internal_test.go
@@ -22,31 +22,6 @@ import (
 	"google.golang.org/api/drive/v3"
 )
 
-func TestDriveScopes(t *testing.T) {
-	for _, test := range []struct {
-		in       string
-		want     []string
-		wantFlag bool
-	}{
-		{"", []string{
-			"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive",
-		}, false},
-		{" drive.file , drive.readonly", []string{
-			"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file",
-			"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly",
-		}, false},
-		{" drive.file , drive.appfolder", []string{
-			"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file",
-			"https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.appfolder",
-		}, true},
-	} {
-		got := driveScopes(test.in)
-		assert.Equal(t, test.want, got, test.in)
-		gotFlag := driveScopesContainsAppFolder(got)
-		assert.Equal(t, test.wantFlag, gotFlag, test.in)
-	}
-}
-
 /*
 var additionalMimeTypes = map[string]string{
 	"application/vnd.ms-excel.sheet.macroenabled.12":                          ".xlsm",