diff --git a/main-settings/src/main/scala/sbt/Scope.scala b/main-settings/src/main/scala/sbt/Scope.scala
index bdf026b3e..fe8f261f3 100644
--- a/main-settings/src/main/scala/sbt/Scope.scala
+++ b/main-settings/src/main/scala/sbt/Scope.scala
@@ -178,6 +178,20 @@ object Scope {
   ): String =
     displayMasked(scope, sep, showProject, mask, false)
 
+  /**
+   * Allows the user to override the result of `Scope.display` or `Scope.displayMasked` for a
+   * particular scope. This can be used to enhance super shell and/or error reporting for tasks
+   * that use mangled names. For example, one might have:
+   * {{{
+   *   val mangledKey = TaskKey[Unit]("foo_slash_bar")
+   *   val attributeMap = AttributeMap.empty.put(Scope.customShowString("foo/bar"))
+   *   val sanitizedKey = mangledKey.copy(scope = mangledKey.copy(extra = Select(attributeMap)))
+   *   sanitizedKey := { ... }
+   * }}}
+   *
+   * Now whenever the `foo_slash_bar` task specified by sanitizedKey is evaluated, it will display
+   * "foo/bar" in super shell progress and in the error message if an error is thrown.
+   */
   val customShowString = AttributeKey[String]("scope-custom-show-string")
 
   /**
diff --git a/main-settings/src/test/scala/sbt/ScopeDisplaySpec.scala b/main-settings/src/test/scala/sbt/ScopeDisplaySpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c7798d67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main-settings/src/test/scala/sbt/ScopeDisplaySpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * sbt
+ * Copyright 2011 - 2018, Lightbend, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2008 - 2010, Mark Harrah
+ * Licensed under Apache License 2.0 (see LICENSE)
+ */
+
+package sbt
+
+import org.scalatest.FlatSpec
+import sbt.internal.util.{ AttributeKey, AttributeMap }
+import sbt.io.syntax.file
+
+class ScopeDisplaySpec extends FlatSpec {
+  val project = ProjectRef(file("foo/bar"), "bar")
+  val mangledName = "bar_slash_blah_blah_blah"
+  val scopedKey = Def.ScopedKey(Scope.Global in project, AttributeKey[Task[String]](mangledName))
+  val am = AttributeMap.empty.put(Scope.customShowString, "blah")
+  val sanitizedKey = scopedKey.copy(scope = scopedKey.scope.copy(extra = Select(am)))
+  "Def.displayRelative2" should "display mangled name" in {
+    assert(Def.showRelativeKey2(project, None).show(scopedKey) == mangledName)
+  }
+  it should "display sanitized name with extra setting" in {
+    assert(Def.showRelativeKey2(project, None).show(sanitizedKey) == "blah")
+  }
+  "Scope.display" should "display the full scope" in {
+    val full = Scope.display(
+      scopedKey.scope,
+      "/",
+      (ref: Reference) =>
+        ref match {
+          case ProjectRef(_, n) => n
+          case _                => ???
+        }
+    )
+    assert(full == "bar /")
+  }
+  it should "display the sanitized scope" in {
+    val string = Scope.display(
+      sanitizedKey.scope,
+      "/",
+      (ref: Reference) =>
+        ref match {
+          case ProjectRef(_, n) => n
+          case _                => ???
+        }
+    )
+    assert(string == "blah")
+  }
+}