diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index a171a8a6..61f60f6f 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -751,11 +751,15 @@ function warnOnUnsupported(pkg::AbstractBackend, d::KW)
 end
 
 function warnOnUnsupportedScales(pkg::AbstractBackend, d::KW)
-  for k in (:xscale, :yscale)
-    if haskey(d, k)
-      d[k] in supportedScales(pkg) || warn("scale $(d[k]) is unsupported with $pkg.  Choose from: $(supportedScales(pkg))")
+    for k in (:xscale, :yscale, :zscale)
+        if haskey(d, k)
+            v = d[k]
+            v = get(_scaleAliases, v, v)
+            if !(v in supportedScales(pkg))
+                warn("scale $(d[k]) is unsupported with $pkg.  Choose from: $(supportedScales(pkg))")
+            end
+        end
     end
-  end
 end
 
 
diff --git a/src/axes.jl b/src/axes.jl
index 1b04469a..1d05dc39 100644
--- a/src/axes.jl
+++ b/src/axes.jl
@@ -91,6 +91,12 @@ function update!(axis::Axis, args...; kw...)
             end
         end
     end
+
+    # replace scale aliases
+    if haskey(_scaleAliases, d[:scale])
+        d[:scale] = _scaleAliases[d[:scale]]
+    end
+
     axis
 end
 
diff --git a/src/backends/gr.jl b/src/backends/gr.jl
index 672837e1..0710c6ea 100644
--- a/src/backends/gr.jl
+++ b/src/backends/gr.jl
@@ -553,10 +553,10 @@ function gr_display(sp::Subplot{GRBackend}, w, h, viewport_canvas)
     # get data limits and set the scale flags and window
     data_lims = gr_xy_axislims(sp)
     xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax = data_lims
+    scale = 0
     if xmax > xmin && ymax > ymin
         # NOTE: for log axes, the major_x and major_y - if non-zero (omit labels) - control the minor grid lines (1 = draw 9 minor grid lines, 2 = no minor grid lines)
         # NOTE: for log axes, the x_tick and y_tick - if non-zero (omit axes) - only affect the output appearance (1 = nomal, 2 = scientiic notation)
-        scale = 0
         xaxis[:scale] == :log10 && (scale |= GR.OPTION_X_LOG)
         yaxis[:scale] == :log10 && (scale |= GR.OPTION_Y_LOG)
         xaxis[:flip]            && (scale |= GR.OPTION_FLIP_X)
@@ -696,6 +696,7 @@ function gr_display(sp::Subplot{GRBackend}, w, h, viewport_canvas)
             xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax = data_lims
             if xmax > xmin && ymax > ymin
                 GR.setwindow(xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax)
+                GR.setscale(scale)
             end
         end
 
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index 55858504..15d7d21c 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -933,6 +933,7 @@ function applyPyPlotScale(ax, scaleType::Symbol, letter)
         elseif scaleType == :log10
             10
         end
+        # kw[Symbol(:linthresh,letter)] = 1e-16
         "symlog"
     end
     func(arg; kw...)