diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/dot_overrides/validators.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/dot_overrides/validators.py
index abe7d89b6a..9f0122a246 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/dot_overrides/validators.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/dot_overrides/validators.py
@@ -94,11 +94,13 @@ class EdxOAuth2Validator(OAuth2Validator):
     def get_default_scopes(self, client_id, request, *args, **kwargs):
         """
         If the request payload does not have `scopes` attribute for a grant_type of
-        client credentials, it should use available scopes as default.
+        client credentials, it should add `user_id` in the default scopes.
         """
+        default_scopes = super().get_default_scopes(client_id, request, *args, **kwargs)
         if request.grant_type == 'client_credentials' and not request.scopes:
-            return get_scopes_backend().get_available_scopes(application=request.client, request=request)
-        return super().get_default_scopes(client_id, request, *args, **kwargs)
+            if get_scopes_backend().has_user_id_in_application_scopes(application=request.client):
+                default_scopes.append('user_id')
+        return default_scopes
 
     def validate_scopes(self, client_id, scopes, client, request, *args, **kwargs):
         """
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/scopes.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/scopes.py
index b9070ddc51..bcaf6df91f 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/scopes.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/scopes.py
@@ -22,3 +22,15 @@ class ApplicationModelScopes(SettingsScopes):
         default_scopes = self.get_default_scopes()
         all_scopes = list(self.get_all_scopes().keys())
         return set(application_scopes + default_scopes).intersection(all_scopes)
+
+    def has_user_id_in_application_scopes(self, application):
+        """
+        Returns the user id associated with the given application.
+        """
+        try:
+            application_scopes = ApplicationAccess.get_scopes(application)
+            if 'user_id' in application_scopes:
+                return True
+        except ApplicationAccess.DoesNotExist:
+            return False
+        return False
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_dot_overrides.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_dot_overrides.py
index dc38b18c6e..2bc4e92c1f 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_dot_overrides.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_dot_overrides.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Test of custom django-oauth-toolkit behavior
 # pylint: disable=protected-access
 
 import datetime
+from unittest import mock
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.test import RequestFactory, TestCase
@@ -77,6 +78,40 @@ class CustomValidationTestCase(TestCase):
         request = self.request_factory.get('/')
         assert self.validator.validate_user('darkhelmet', self.TEST_PASSWORD, client=None, request=request)
 
+    @mock.patch(
+        'openedx.core.djangoapps.oauth_dispatch.scopes.ApplicationModelScopes.has_user_id_in_application_scopes'
+    )
+    @mock.patch('oauth2_provider.oauth2_validators.OAuth2Validator.get_default_scopes')
+    def test_get_updated_default_scopes(self, mock_get_default_scopes, mock_has_user_id_in_application_scopes):
+        """
+        Test that get_default_scopes returns the default scopes plus the user_id scope if it's available.
+        """
+        default_scopes = ['profile', 'email']
+        mock_get_default_scopes.return_value = default_scopes.copy()
+        mock_has_user_id_in_application_scopes.return_value = True
+
+        request = mock.Mock(grant_type='client_credentials', client=None, scopes=None)
+        overriden_default_scopes = self.validator.get_default_scopes(request=request, client_id='client_id')
+
+        self.assertEqual(overriden_default_scopes, default_scopes + ['user_id'])
+
+    @mock.patch(
+        'openedx.core.djangoapps.oauth_dispatch.scopes.ApplicationModelScopes.has_user_id_in_application_scopes'
+    )
+    @mock.patch('oauth2_provider.oauth2_validators.OAuth2Validator.get_default_scopes')
+    def test_get_default_scopes(self, mock_get_default_scopes, mock_has_user_id_in_application_scopes):
+        """
+        Test that get_default_scopes returns the default scopes if user_id scope is not available.
+        """
+        default_scopes = ['profile', 'email']
+        mock_get_default_scopes.return_value = default_scopes.copy()
+        mock_has_user_id_in_application_scopes.return_value = False
+
+        request = mock.Mock(grant_type='client_credentials', client=None, scopes=None)
+        overriden_default_scopes = self.validator.get_default_scopes(request=request, client_id='client_id')
+
+        self.assertEqual(overriden_default_scopes, default_scopes)
+
 
 @skip_unless_lms
 class CustomAuthorizationViewTestCase(TestCase):
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_scopes.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_scopes.py
index 5b68f6f14c..d4545758c1 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_scopes.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/oauth_dispatch/tests/test_scopes.py
@@ -30,4 +30,13 @@ class ApplicationModelScopesTestCase(TestCase):
         application_access = ApplicationAccessFactory(scopes=application_scopes)
         scopes = ApplicationModelScopes()
         assert set(scopes.get_available_scopes(application_access.application)) == \
-               set(list(settings.OAUTH2_DEFAULT_SCOPES.keys()) + expected_additional_scopes)
+            set(list(settings.OAUTH2_DEFAULT_SCOPES.keys()) + expected_additional_scopes)
+
+    def test_has_user_id_in_application_scopes(self):
+        """ Verify the settings backend correctly identifies whether the user_id scope is available. """
+        application_access = ApplicationAccessFactory(scopes=['user_id'])
+        scopes = ApplicationModelScopes()
+        assert scopes.has_user_id_in_application_scopes(application_access.application)
+        application_access.scopes = []
+        application_access.save()
+        assert not scopes.has_user_id_in_application_scopes(application_access.application)