diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/DeployerSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/DeployerSpec.scala
index d8084c0f37..9907e89159 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/DeployerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/DeployerSpec.scala
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ class DeployerSpec extends AkkaSpec(DeployerSpec.deployerConf) {
           service,
           deployment.get.config,
           NoRouter,
-          NoScope)))
+          NoScopeGiven)))
     }
 
     "use None deployment for undefined service" in {
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ class DeployerSpec extends AkkaSpec(DeployerSpec.deployerConf) {
       deployment.get.path must be(service)
       deployment.get.routerConfig.getClass must be(expected.getClass)
       deployment.get.routerConfig.resizer must be(expected.resizer)
-      deployment.get.scope must be(NoScope)
+      deployment.get.scope must be(NoScopeGiven)
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index cdddf71d7b..688c036380 100755
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -96,7 +96,10 @@ trait ActorRefProvider {
    * Actor factory with create-only semantics: will create an actor as
    * described by props with the given supervisor and path (may be different
    * in case of remote supervision). If systemService is true, deployment is
-   * bypassed (local-only).
+   * bypassed (local-only). If ``Some(deploy)`` is passed in, it should be
+   * regarded as taking precedence over the nominally applicable settings,
+   * but it should be overridable from external configuration; the lookup of
+   * the latter can be suppressed by setting ``lookupDeploy`` to ``false``.
    */
   def actorOf(
     system: ActorSystemImpl,
@@ -532,8 +535,8 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
       case NoRouter ⇒ new LocalActorRef(system, props, supervisor, path, systemService) // create a local actor
       case router ⇒
         val lookup = if (lookupDeploy) deployer.lookup(path.elements.drop(1).mkString("/", "/", "")) else None
-        val fromProps = props.deploy.copy(routerConfig = props.deploy.routerConfig withFallback router) :: Nil
-        val d = lookup.toList ::: deploy.toList ::: fromProps reduceRight (_ withFallback _)
+        val fromProps = Iterator(props.deploy.copy(routerConfig = props.deploy.routerConfig withFallback router))
+        val d = fromProps ++ deploy.iterator ++ lookup.iterator reduce ((a, b) ⇒ b withFallback a)
         new RoutedActorRef(system, props.withRouter(d.routerConfig), supervisor, path)
     }
   }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
index 85225bda4d..d561c74413 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ final case class Deploy(
   path: String = "",
   config: Config = ConfigFactory.empty,
   routerConfig: RouterConfig = NoRouter,
-  scope: Scope = NoScope) {
+  scope: Scope = NoScopeGiven) {
 
   def this(routing: RouterConfig) = this("", ConfigFactory.empty, routing)
   def this(routing: RouterConfig, scope: Scope) = this("", ConfigFactory.empty, routing, scope)
@@ -40,11 +40,25 @@ final case class Deploy(
    * precedence. The “path” of the other Deploy is not taken into account. All
    * other members are merged using ``<X>.withFallback(other.<X>)``.
    */
-  def withFallback(other: Deploy) =
+  def withFallback(other: Deploy): Deploy =
     Deploy(path, config.withFallback(other.config), routerConfig.withFallback(other.routerConfig), scope.withFallback(other.scope))
 }
 
+/**
+ * The scope of a [[akka.actor.Deploy]] serves two purposes: as a marker for
+ * pattern matching the “scope” (i.e. local/remote/cluster) as well as for
+ * extending the information carried by the final Deploy class. Scopes can be
+ * used in conjunction with a custom [[akka.actor.ActorRefProvider]], making
+ * Akka actors fully extensible.
+ */
 trait Scope {
+  /**
+   * When merging [[akka.actor.Deploy]] instances using ``withFallback()`` on
+   * the left one, this is propagated to “merging” scopes in the same way.
+   * The setup is biased towards preferring the callee over the argument, i.e.
+   * ``a.withFallback(b)`` is called expecting that ``a`` should in general take
+   * precedence.
+   */
   def withFallback(other: Scope): Scope
 }
 
@@ -52,7 +66,7 @@ case object LocalScope extends Scope {
   /**
    * Java API
    */
-  def scope = this
+  def scope: Scope = this
 
   def withFallback(other: Scope): Scope = this
 }
@@ -60,7 +74,7 @@ case object LocalScope extends Scope {
 /**
  * This is the default value and as such allows overrides.
  */
-case object NoScope extends Scope {
+case object NoScopeGiven extends Scope {
   def withFallback(other: Scope): Scope = other
 }
 
@@ -122,7 +136,7 @@ class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val classloader: ClassLoader)
         }
     }
 
-    Some(Deploy(key, deployment, router, NoScope))
+    Some(Deploy(key, deployment, router, NoScopeGiven))
   }
 
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
index 70ba50f255..260f882753 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Props.scala
@@ -137,34 +137,34 @@ case class Props(
    *
    * Scala API.
    */
-  def withCreator(c: ⇒ Actor) = copy(creator = () ⇒ c)
+  def withCreator(c: ⇒ Actor): Props = copy(creator = () ⇒ c)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified creator set.
    *
    * Java API.
    */
-  def withCreator(c: Creator[Actor]) = copy(creator = () ⇒ c.create)
+  def withCreator(c: Creator[Actor]): Props = copy(creator = () ⇒ c.create)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified creator set.
    *
    * Java API.
    */
-  def withCreator(c: Class[_ <: Actor]) = copy(creator = () ⇒ c.newInstance)
+  def withCreator(c: Class[_ <: Actor]): Props = copy(creator = () ⇒ c.newInstance)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified dispatcher set.
    */
-  def withDispatcher(d: String) = copy(dispatcher = d)
+  def withDispatcher(d: String): Props = copy(dispatcher = d)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified router config set.
    */
-  def withRouter(r: RouterConfig) = copy(routerConfig = r)
+  def withRouter(r: RouterConfig): Props = copy(routerConfig = r)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new Props with the specified deployment configuration.
    */
-  def withDeploy(d: Deploy) = copy(deploy = d)
+  def withDeploy(d: Deploy): Props = copy(deploy = d)
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
index 7e3f965851..881aa665dc 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/TypedActor.scala
@@ -472,12 +472,12 @@ case class TypedProps[T <: AnyRef] protected[TypedProps] (
   /**
    * Returns a new TypedProps with the specified dispatcher set.
    */
-  def withDispatcher(d: String) = copy(dispatcher = d)
+  def withDispatcher(d: String): TypedProps[T] = copy(dispatcher = d)
 
   /**
    * Returns a new TypedProps with the specified deployment configuration.
    */
-  def withDeploy(d: Deploy) = copy(deploy = d)
+  def withDeploy(d: Deploy): TypedProps[T] = copy(deploy = d)
 
   /**
    * @return a new TypedProps that will use the specified ClassLoader to create its proxy class in
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index c49c529572..69ccdec572 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -163,13 +163,13 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
         else None
 
       val deployment = {
-        lookup.toList ::: deploy.toList ::: Nil match {
+        deploy.toList ::: lookup.toList match {
           case Nil ⇒ Nil
-          case l   ⇒ List(l reduceRight (_ withFallback _))
+          case l   ⇒ List(l reduce ((a, b) ⇒ b withFallback a))
         }
       }
 
-      deployment ::: props.deploy :: Nil reduceRight (_ withFallback _) match {
+      Iterator(props.deploy) ++ deployment.iterator reduce ((a, b) ⇒ b withFallback a) match {
         case d @ Deploy(_, _, _, RemoteScope(addr)) ⇒
           if (addr == rootPath.address || addr == transport.address) {
             local.actorOf(system, props, supervisor, path, false, deployment.headOption, false)
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
index d230c89534..295227081a 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import scala.annotation.tailrec
 import akka.actor.{ VirtualPathContainer, Terminated, Deploy, Props, Nobody, LocalActorRef, InternalActorRef, Address, ActorSystemImpl, ActorRef, ActorPathExtractor, ActorPath, Actor }
 import akka.event.LoggingAdapter
 
-sealed trait DaemonMsg
-case class DaemonMsgCreate(props: Props, deploy: Deploy, path: String, supervisor: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
-case class DaemonMsgWatch(watcher: ActorRef, watched: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
+private[akka] sealed trait DaemonMsg
+private[akka] case class DaemonMsgCreate(props: Props, deploy: Deploy, path: String, supervisor: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
+private[akka] case class DaemonMsgWatch(watcher: ActorRef, watched: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
 
 /**
  * Internal system "daemon" actor for remote internal communication.