I'd like to use FactoryBeans and scopes together. Specifically, I'd like the object created and returned by a FactoryBean to be placed into a specified (perhaps custom) scope. The issue is that doing the following: <bean class="x.y.z.TestFactoryBean" scope="test" /> Results in the FactoryBean itself being scoped, and has somewhat unpredictable behaviour on the object created by the factory. I understand why this is; the factory itself is a first-class spring-managed bean, and has its own lifecycle. However, I can't find a way to specify that the object returned from the factory should itself be scoped. On the other hand, this does exactly what I want (as long as TestFactoryBean does NOT implement the FactoryBean interface): <bean class="x.y.z.TestFactoryBean" name="testFactory"> <bean class="x.y.z.TestBean" factory-bean="testFactory" factory-method="getObject" scope="test" /> So the real question is, how can I make Spring behave like it does for the 2nd example above, but using real FactoryBeans?