diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/sceneVariablesSetToVariables.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/sceneVariablesSetToVariables.ts
index 5063c6fd594..e8afa5b56b9 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/sceneVariablesSetToVariables.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/serialization/sceneVariablesSetToVariables.ts
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 import {
-  SceneVariableSet,
   QueryVariable,
   CustomVariable,
   DataSourceVariable,
   ConstantVariable,
   IntervalVariable,
+  SceneVariables,
 } from '@grafana/scenes';
 import { VariableModel, VariableHide, VariableRefresh, VariableSort } from '@grafana/schema';
 
 import { getIntervalsQueryFromNewIntervalModel } from '../utils/utils';
 
-export function sceneVariablesSetToVariables(set: SceneVariableSet) {
+export function sceneVariablesSetToVariables(set: SceneVariables) {
   const variables: VariableModel[] = [];
   for (const variable of set.state.variables) {
     const commonProperties = {
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/getVariablesCompatibility.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/getVariablesCompatibility.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ed26220201f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/getVariablesCompatibility.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import { TypedVariableModel } from '@grafana/data';
+import { sceneGraph, SceneObject } from '@grafana/scenes';
+
+import { sceneVariablesSetToVariables } from '../serialization/sceneVariablesSetToVariables';
+
+export function getVariablesCompatibility(sceneObject: SceneObject): TypedVariableModel[] {
+  const set = sceneGraph.getVariables(sceneObject);
+  const legacyModels = sceneVariablesSetToVariables(set);
+
+  // Sadly templateSrv.getVariables returns TypedVariableModel but sceneVariablesSetToVariables return persisted schema model
+  // They look close to identical (differ in what is optional in some places).
+  // The way templateSrv.getVariables is used it should not matter. it is mostly used to get names of all variables (for query editors).
+  // So type and name are important. Maybe some external data sourcess also check current value so that is also important.
+  // @ts-expect-error
+  return legacyModels;
+}
diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.test.ts b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.test.ts
index 3dfef81ed81..d6a13535532 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.test.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
-import { dateTime, TimeRange, TypedVariableModel } from '@grafana/data';
+import { dateTime, QueryVariableModel, TimeRange, TypedVariableModel } from '@grafana/data';
 import { setDataSourceSrv, VariableInterpolation } from '@grafana/runtime';
-import { ConstantVariable, EmbeddedScene, SceneCanvasText, SceneVariableSet, TestVariable } from '@grafana/scenes';
+import {
+  ConstantVariable,
+  CustomVariable,
+  DataSourceVariable,
+  EmbeddedScene,
+  IntervalVariable,
+  QueryVariable,
+  SceneCanvasText,
+  SceneVariableSet,
+  TestVariable,
+} from '@grafana/scenes';
 import { VariableFormatID } from '@grafana/schema';
 
 import { silenceConsoleOutput } from '../../../test/core/utils/silenceConsoleOutput';
@@ -24,6 +34,7 @@ const interpolateMock = jest.fn();
 jest.mock('@grafana/scenes', () => ({
   ...jest.requireActual('@grafana/scenes'),
   sceneGraph: {
+    ...jest.requireActual('@grafana/scenes').sceneGraph,
     interpolate: (...args: unknown[]) => interpolateMock(...args),
   },
 }));
@@ -844,5 +855,39 @@ describe('templateSrv', () => {
       expect(interpolateMock.mock.calls[0][0]).toEqual(window.__grafanaSceneContext);
       expect(interpolateMock.mock.calls[0][1]).toEqual('test ${sceneVar}');
     });
+
+    it('Can use getVariables to access scene variables', () => {
+      window.__grafanaSceneContext = new EmbeddedScene({
+        $variables: new SceneVariableSet({
+          variables: [
+            new QueryVariable({ name: 'server', value: 'serverA', text: 'Server A' }),
+            new QueryVariable({ name: 'pods', value: ['pA', 'pB'], text: ['podA', 'podB'] }),
+            new DataSourceVariable({ name: 'ds', value: 'dsA', text: 'dsA', pluginId: 'prometheus' }),
+            new CustomVariable({ name: 'custom', value: 'A', text: 'A', query: 'A, B, C' }),
+            new IntervalVariable({ name: 'interval', value: '1m', intervals: ['1m', '2m'] }),
+          ],
+        }),
+        body: new SceneCanvasText({ text: 'hello' }),
+      });
+
+      window.__grafanaSceneContext.activate();
+
+      const vars = _templateSrv.getVariables();
+      expect(vars.length).toBe(5);
+
+      const serverVar = vars[0] as QueryVariableModel;
+
+      expect(serverVar.name).toBe('server');
+      expect(serverVar.type).toBe('query');
+      expect(serverVar.current.value).toBe('serverA');
+      expect(serverVar.current.text).toBe('Server A');
+
+      const podVar = vars[1] as QueryVariableModel;
+
+      expect(podVar.name).toBe('pods');
+      expect(podVar.type).toBe('query');
+      expect(podVar.current.value).toEqual(['pA', 'pB']);
+      expect(podVar.current.text).toEqual(['podA', 'podB']);
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
index ab4760f1c6a..4722938134d 100644
--- a/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/templating/template_srv.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
 import { sceneGraph, VariableCustomFormatterFn } from '@grafana/scenes';
 import { VariableFormatID } from '@grafana/schema';
 
+import { getVariablesCompatibility } from '../dashboard-scene/utils/getVariablesCompatibility';
 import { variableAdapters } from '../variables/adapters';
 import { ALL_VARIABLE_TEXT, ALL_VARIABLE_VALUE } from '../variables/constants';
 import { isAdHoc } from '../variables/guard';
@@ -74,6 +75,11 @@ export class TemplateSrv implements BaseTemplateSrv {
   }
 
   getVariables(): TypedVariableModel[] {
+    // For scenes we have this backward compatiblity translation
+    if (window.__grafanaSceneContext) {
+      return getVariablesCompatibility(window.__grafanaSceneContext);
+    }
+
     return this.dependencies.getVariables();
   }