diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelEditor.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelEditor.tsx
index 1eb6db12bf7..c9d43e86725 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelEditor.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/panel-edit/PanelEditor.tsx
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import { getPanelChanges } from '../saving/getDashboardChanges';
 import { DashboardGridItem, DashboardGridItemState } from '../scene/DashboardGridItem';
 import { vizPanelToPanel } from '../serialization/transformSceneToSaveModel';
 import {
-  activateInActiveParents,
+  activateSceneObjectAndParentTree,
   getDashboardSceneFor,
   getLibraryPanelBehavior,
   getPanelIdForVizPanel,
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ export class PanelEditor extends SceneObjectBase<PanelEditorState> {
 
   private _activationHandler() {
     const panel = this.state.panelRef.resolve();
-    const deactivateParents = activateInActiveParents(panel);
+    const deactivateParents = activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(panel);
     const layoutElement = panel.parent;
 
     this.waitForPlugin();
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/PanelSearchLayout.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/PanelSearchLayout.tsx
index 679bca8cb59..c5e7dc5e6c8 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/PanelSearchLayout.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/PanelSearchLayout.tsx
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { SceneGridRow, VizPanel, sceneGraph } from '@grafana/scenes';
 import { useStyles2 } from '@grafana/ui';
 import { Trans } from 'app/core/internationalization';
 
-import { activateInActiveParents } from '../utils/utils';
+import { activateSceneObjectAndParentTree } from '../utils/utils';
 
 import { DashboardGridItem } from './DashboardGridItem';
 import { DashboardScene } from './DashboardScene';
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ export function PanelSearchLayout({ dashboard, panelSearch = '', panelsPerRow }:
 }
 
 function PanelSearchHit({ panel }: { panel: VizPanel }) {
-  useEffect(() => activateInActiveParents(panel), [panel]);
+  useEffect(() => activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(panel), [panel]);
 
   return <panel.Component model={panel} />;
 }
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/ViewPanelScene.tsx b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/ViewPanelScene.tsx
index 969ed5f1358..46486395aef 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/ViewPanelScene.tsx
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/scene/ViewPanelScene.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { SceneComponentProps, SceneObjectBase, SceneObjectRef, SceneObjectState, VizPanel } from '@grafana/scenes';
 
-import { activateInActiveParents } from '../utils/utils';
+import { activateSceneObjectAndParentTree } from '../utils/utils';
 
 interface ViewPanelSceneState extends SceneObjectState {
   panelRef: SceneObjectRef<VizPanel>;
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export class ViewPanelScene extends SceneObjectBase<ViewPanelSceneState> {
 
   public _activationHandler() {
     const panel = this.state.panelRef.resolve();
-    return activateInActiveParents(panel);
+    return activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(panel);
   }
 
   public getUrlKey() {
diff --git a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/utils.ts b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/utils.ts
index dfdb3cab994..09792696251 100644
--- a/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/utils.ts
+++ b/public/app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/utils.ts
@@ -249,11 +249,11 @@ export function getLibraryPanelBehavior(vizPanel: VizPanel): LibraryPanelBehavio
 }
 
 /**
- * Activates any inactive parents of the scene object.
+ * Activates any inactive ancestors of the scene object.
  * Useful when rendering a scene object out of context of it's parent
  * @returns
  */
-export function activateInActiveParents(so: SceneObject): CancelActivationHandler | undefined {
+export function activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(so: SceneObject): CancelActivationHandler | undefined {
   let cancel: CancelActivationHandler | undefined;
   let parentCancel: CancelActivationHandler | undefined;
 
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ export function activateInActiveParents(so: SceneObject): CancelActivationHandle
   }
 
   if (so.parent) {
-    parentCancel = activateInActiveParents(so.parent);
+    parentCancel = activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(so.parent);
   }
 
   cancel = so.activate();
@@ -272,3 +272,10 @@ export function activateInActiveParents(so: SceneObject): CancelActivationHandle
     cancel();
   };
 }
+
+/**
+ * @deprecated use activateSceneObjectAndParentTree instead.
+ * Activates any inactive ancestors of the scene object.
+ * Useful when rendering a scene object out of context of it's parent
+ */
+export const activateInActiveParents = activateSceneObjectAndParentTree;
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/datasource/dashboard/datasource.ts b/public/app/plugins/datasource/dashboard/datasource.ts
index 07e1f84f902..9a6b10e4457 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/datasource/dashboard/datasource.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/datasource/dashboard/datasource.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {
 } from '@grafana/data';
 import { SceneDataProvider, SceneDataTransformer, SceneObject } from '@grafana/scenes';
 import {
-  activateInActiveParents,
+  activateSceneObjectAndParentTree,
   findVizPanelByKey,
   getVizPanelKeyForPanelId,
 } from 'app/features/dashboard-scene/utils/utils';
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export class DashboardDatasource extends DataSourceApi<DashboardQuery> {
         sourceDataProvider?.setContainerWidth(500);
       }
 
-      const cleanUp = activateInActiveParents(sourceDataProvider!);
+      const cleanUp = activateSceneObjectAndParentTree(sourceDataProvider!);
 
       return sourceDataProvider!.getResultsStream!().pipe(
         map((result) => {