diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelDataPane/PanelDataAlertingTab.test.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelDataPane/PanelDataAlertingTab.test.tsx
index 1786c59882b..a261687ea1c 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelDataPane/PanelDataAlertingTab.test.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelDataPane/PanelDataAlertingTab.test.tsx
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ const dashboard = {
     folderId: 1,
     folderTitle: 'super folder',
   },
+  isSnapshot: () => false,
 } as unknown as DashboardModel;
 
 const panel = new PanelModel({
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.test.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.test.ts
index 2567575f3bf..c43026dd293 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.test.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import { NEW_LINK } from '../settings/links/utils';
 import { getQueryRunnerFor } from '../utils/utils';
 
 import { buildNewDashboardSaveModel } from './buildNewDashboardSaveModel';
+import { GRAFANA_DATASOURCE_REF } from './const';
 import dashboard_to_load1 from './testfiles/dashboard_to_load1.json';
 import repeatingRowsAndPanelsDashboardJson from './testfiles/repeating_rows_and_panels.json';
 import {
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ import {
   buildGridItemForPanel,
   createSceneVariableFromVariableModel,
   transformSaveModelToScene,
+  convertOldSnapshotToScenesSnapshot,
 } from './transformSaveModelToScene';
 
 describe('transformSaveModelToScene', () => {
@@ -1080,6 +1082,52 @@ describe('transformSaveModelToScene', () => {
       expect(dataLayers.state.layers[4].state.name).toBe('Alert States');
     });
   });
+
+  describe('when rendering a legacy snapshot as scene', () => {
+    it('should convert snapshotData to snapshot inside targets', () => {
+      const panel = createPanelSaveModel({
+        title: 'test',
+        gridPos: { x: 1, y: 0, w: 12, h: 8 },
+        // @ts-ignore
+        snapshotData: [
+          {
+            fields: [
+              {
+                name: 'Field 1',
+                type: 'time',
+                values: ['value1', 'value2'],
+                config: {},
+              },
+              {
+                name: 'Field 2',
+                type: 'number',
+                values: [1],
+                config: {},
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        ],
+      }) as Panel;
+
+      const oldPanelModel = new PanelModel(panel);
+      convertOldSnapshotToScenesSnapshot(oldPanelModel);
+
+      expect(oldPanelModel.snapshotData?.length).toStrictEqual(0);
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets.length).toStrictEqual(1);
+      expect(oldPanelModel.datasource).toStrictEqual(GRAFANA_DATASOURCE_REF);
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets[0].datasource).toStrictEqual(GRAFANA_DATASOURCE_REF);
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets[0].queryType).toStrictEqual('snapshot');
+      // @ts-ignore
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets[0].snapshot.length).toBe(1);
+      // @ts-ignore
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets[0].snapshot[0].data.values).toStrictEqual([['value1', 'value2'], [1]]);
+      // @ts-ignore
+      expect(oldPanelModel.targets[0].snapshot[0].schema.fields).toStrictEqual([
+        { config: {}, name: 'Field 1', type: 'time' },
+        { config: {}, name: 'Field 2', type: 'number' },
+      ]);
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 function buildGridItemForTest(saveModel: Partial<Panel>): { gridItem: SceneGridItem; vizPanel: VizPanel } {
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.ts
index 9b7e0c988c5..611375cc10a 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/transformSaveModelToScene.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { TypedVariableModel } from '@grafana/data';
+import { DataFrameDTO, DataFrameJSON, TypedVariableModel } from '@grafana/data';
 import { config } from '@grafana/runtime';
 import {
   VizPanel,
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ import {
 } from '../utils/utils';
 
 import { getAngularPanelMigrationHandler } from './angularMigration';
+import { GRAFANA_DATASOURCE_REF } from './const';
 
 export interface DashboardLoaderState {
   dashboard?: DashboardScene;
@@ -114,6 +115,11 @@ export function createSceneObjectsForPanels(oldPanels: PanelModel[]): SceneGridI
         panels.push(gridItem);
       }
     } else {
+      // when rendering a snapshot created with the legacy Dashboards convert data to new snapshot format to be compatible with Scenes
+      if (panel.snapshotData) {
+        convertOldSnapshotToScenesSnapshot(panel);
+      }
+
       const panelObject = buildGridItemForPanel(panel);
 
       // when processing an expanded row, collect its panels
@@ -371,7 +377,7 @@ export function createSceneVariableFromVariableModel(variable: TypedVariableMode
   } else if (variable.type === 'textbox') {
     return new TextBoxVariable({
       ...commonProperties,
-      value: variable.query,
+      value: variable?.current?.value?.[0] ?? variable.query,
       skipUrlSync: variable.skipUrlSync,
       hide: variable.hide,
     });
@@ -528,3 +534,38 @@ function registerPanelInteractionsReporter(scene: DashboardScene) {
     }
   });
 }
+
+const convertSnapshotData = (snapshotData: DataFrameDTO[]): DataFrameJSON[] => {
+  return snapshotData.map((data) => {
+    return {
+      data: {
+        values: data.fields.map((field) => field.values).filter((values): values is unknown[] => values !== undefined),
+      },
+      schema: {
+        fields: data.fields.map((field) => ({
+          name: field.name,
+          type: field.type,
+          config: field.config,
+        })),
+      },
+    };
+  });
+};
+
+// override panel datasource and targets with snapshot data using the Grafana datasource
+export const convertOldSnapshotToScenesSnapshot = (panel: PanelModel) => {
+  // only old snapshots created with old dashboards contains snapshotData
+  if (panel.snapshotData) {
+    panel.datasource = GRAFANA_DATASOURCE_REF;
+    panel.targets = [
+      {
+        refId: panel.snapshotData[0]?.refId ?? '',
+        datasource: panel.datasource,
+        queryType: 'snapshot',
+        // @ts-ignore
+        snapshot: convertSnapshotData(panel.snapshotData),
+      },
+    ];
+    panel.snapshotData = [];
+  }
+};