diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 46323915..de7b3f4f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@
   - setting the parent scope for scopes created by the service via `#parent()`
   - reloading the current route via `#reload()`
 
+### API
+- added `angular.element(...).scope()` method to retrieve scope for a given element.
+
 ### Bug Fixes
 - <option> value attribute gets clobbered when the element contains new line character(s).
 - <ng:view> widget now works when nested inside an <ng:include> widget
diff --git a/docs/angular.element.ngdoc b/docs/angular.element.ngdoc
index a636cc25..90025799 100644
--- a/docs/angular.element.ngdoc
+++ b/docs/angular.element.ngdoc
@@ -9,16 +9,17 @@ Wraps a raw DOM element or HTML string as [jQuery](http://jquery.com) element.
 jQuery is loaded or a function that wraps the element or string in angular's jQuery lite
 implementation.
 
-Real jQuery always takes precedence if it was loaded before angular.
+Real jQuery always takes precedence (as long as it was loaded before `DOMContentEvent`)
 
 Angular's jQuery lite implementation is a tiny API-compatible subset of jQuery which allows
-angular to manipulate DOM.  The functions implemented are usually just the basic versions of
-them and might not support arguments and invocation styles.
+angular to manipulate DOM. The jQuery lite implements only a subset of jQuery api, with the
+focus on the most commonly needed functionality and minimal footprint. For this reason only a
+limited number of jQuery methods, arguments and invocation styles are supported.
 
 NOTE: All element references in angular are always wrapped with jQuery (lite) and are never
 raw DOM references.
 
-Angular's jQuery lite implements these functions:
+## Angular's jQuery lite implements these functions:
 
 - [addClass()](http://api.jquery.com/addClass/)
 - [after()](http://api.jquery.com/after/)
@@ -39,5 +40,9 @@ Angular's jQuery lite implements these functions:
 - [text()](http://api.jquery.com/text/)
 - [trigger()](http://api.jquery.com/trigger/)
 
+## Additionally these methods are available in both jQuery and jQuery lite version.
+
+- `scope()` - retrieves the current angular scope of the element.
+
 @param {string|DOMElement} element HTML string or DOMElement to be wrapped into jQuery.
 @returns {Object} jQuery object.
diff --git a/src/Angular.js b/src/Angular.js
index b856aa24..9a1ab4a2 100644
--- a/src/Angular.js
+++ b/src/Angular.js
@@ -1032,5 +1032,12 @@ function angularJsConfig(document, config) {
 function bindJQuery(){
   // bind to jQuery if present;
   jQuery = window.jQuery;
-  angular.element = jqLite = jQuery || jqLiteWrap;
+  // reset to jQuery or default to us.
+  if (window.jQuery) {
+    jqLite = window.jQuery;
+    jqLite.fn.scope = JQLite.prototype.scope;
+  } else {
+    jqLite = jqLiteWrap;
+  }
+  angular.element = jqLite;
 }
diff --git a/src/Compiler.js b/src/Compiler.js
index 472ec625..d1505404 100644
--- a/src/Compiler.js
+++ b/src/Compiler.js
@@ -69,18 +69,6 @@ Template.prototype = {
   }
 };
 
-/*
- * Function walks up the element chain looking for the scope associated with the give element.
- */
-function retrieveScope(element) {
-  var scope;
-  element = jqLite(element);
-  while (element && element.length && !(scope = element.data($$scope))) {
-    element = element.parent();
-  }
-  return scope;
-}
-
 ///////////////////////////////////
 //Compiler
 //////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/jqLite.js b/src/jqLite.js
index ad7734c9..206c1d70 100644
--- a/src/jqLite.js
+++ b/src/jqLite.js
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ JQLite.prototype = {
     })(this[0]);
   },
 
+  scope: function() {
+    var scope, element = this;
+    while (element && element.length && !(scope = element.data($$scope))) {
+      element = element.parent();
+    }
+    return scope;
+  },
+
+
   ready: function(fn) {
     var fired = false;
 
diff --git a/src/widgets.js b/src/widgets.js
index 461684ac..f8efae60 100644
--- a/src/widgets.js
+++ b/src/widgets.js
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ angularWidget('option', function(){
   return function(option) {
     var select = option.parent();
     var isMultiple = select[0].type == 'select-multiple';
-    var scope = retrieveScope(select);
+    var scope = select.scope();
     var model = modelAccessor(scope, select);
 
     //if parent select doesn't have a name, don't bother doing anything any more
diff --git a/test/CompilerSpec.js b/test/CompilerSpec.js
index 498ee060..291a5011 100644
--- a/test/CompilerSpec.js
+++ b/test/CompilerSpec.js
@@ -166,24 +166,4 @@ describe('compiler', function(){
     scope = compile('A---B---C===D');
     expect(sortedHtml(scope.$element)).toEqual('<div>A<hr></hr>B<hr></hr>C<p></p>D</div>');
   });
-
-
-  describe('retrieveScope', function() {
-    it('should retrieve scope attached to the current element', function() {
-      scope = compile('<i>foo</i>');
-      expect(retrieveScope(scope.$element)).toBe(scope);
-    });
-
-    it('should walk up the dom to find scope', function() {
-      scope = compile('<ul><li><p><b>deep deep</b><p></li></ul>');
-      var deepChild = scope.$element[0].getElementsByTagName('b')[0];
-      expect(retrieveScope(deepChild)).toBe(scope);
-    });
-
-    it('should return undefined when no scope was found', function() {
-      var html = jqLite('<ul><li><p><b>deep deep</b><p></li></ul>'),
-          deepChild = html[0].getElementsByTagName('b')[0];
-      expect(retrieveScope(deepChild)).toBeNull();
-    });
-  });
 });
diff --git a/test/jqLiteSpec.js b/test/jqLiteSpec.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..da8ab206
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/jqLiteSpec.js
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+describe('jqLite', function(){
+  var scope;
+
+  beforeEach(function(){
+    scope = angular.scope();
+  });
+
+  describe('scope', function() {
+    it('should retrieve scope attached to the current element', function() {
+      var element = jqLite('<i>foo</i>');
+      element.data('$scope', scope);
+      expect(element.scope()).toBe(scope);
+      dealoc(element);
+    });
+
+    it('should walk up the dom to find scope', function() {
+      var element = jqLite('<ul><li><p><b>deep deep</b><p></li></ul>');
+      var deepChild = jqLite(element[0].getElementsByTagName('b')[0]);
+      element.data('$scope', scope);
+      expect(deepChild.scope()).toBe(scope);
+      dealoc(element);
+    });
+
+    it('should return undefined when no scope was found', function() {
+      var element = jqLite('<ul><li><p><b>deep deep</b><p></li></ul>');
+      var deepChild = jqLite(element[0].getElementsByTagName('b')[0]);
+      expect(deepChild.scope()).toBeNull();
+      dealoc(element);
+    });
+  });
+});