diff --git a/sentry_sdk/scope.py b/sentry_sdk/scope.py
index c721b56505..49eed2dedd 100644
--- a/sentry_sdk/scope.py
+++ b/sentry_sdk/scope.py
@@ -134,14 +134,30 @@ def fingerprint(self, value):
         """When set this overrides the default fingerprint."""
         self._fingerprint = value
 
-    @_attr_setter
+    @property
+    def transaction(self):
+        # type: () -> Optional[Span]
+        """Return the transaction (root span) in the scope."""
+        # XXX: update return type to Optional[Transaction]
+        try:
+            return self._span._span_recorder.spans[0]
+        except (AttributeError, IndexError):
+            return None
+
+    @transaction.setter
     def transaction(self, value):
         # type: (Optional[str]) -> None
         """When set this forces a specific transaction name to be set."""
+        # XXX: the docstring above is misleading. The implementation of
+        # apply_to_event prefers an existing value of event.transaction over
+        # anything set in the scope.
+        # XXX: note that with the introduction of the Scope.transaction getter,
+        # there is a semantic and type mismatch between getter and setter. The
+        # getter returns a transaction, the setter sets a transaction name.
+        # Without breaking version compatibility, we could make the setter set a
+        # transaction name or transaction (self._span) depending on the type of
+        # the value argument.
         self._transaction = value
-        span = self._span
-        if span:
-            span.transaction = value
 
     @_attr_setter
     def user(self, value):
diff --git a/tests/test_tracing.py b/tests/test_tracing.py
index 8db0f60c50..7d95f8a147 100644
--- a/tests/test_tracing.py
+++ b/tests/test_tracing.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from sentry_sdk import Hub, capture_message
+from sentry_sdk import Hub, capture_message, start_span
 from sentry_sdk.tracing import Span
 
 
@@ -180,3 +180,17 @@ def before_send(event, hint):
         pass
 
     assert len(events) == 1
+
+
+def test_get_transaction_from_scope(sentry_init, capture_events):
+    sentry_init(traces_sample_rate=1.0)
+    events = capture_events()
+
+    with start_span(transaction="/"):
+        with start_span(op="child-span"):
+            with start_span(op="child-child-span"):
+                scope = Hub.current.scope
+                assert scope.span.op == "child-child-span"
+                assert scope.transaction.transaction == "/"
+
+    assert len(events) == 1