diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 523ce87e16e..dbeee8100bc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ To learn more about our roadmap, we recommend reading [this document](ROADMAP.md
 
 - **General**: Fix CVE-2022-21221 in `github.com/valyala/fasthttp` ([#2775](https://github.com/kedacore/keda/issue/2775))
 - **General**: Bump Golang to 1.17.9 ([#3016](https://github.com/kedacore/keda/issues/3016))
+- **General**: Fix autoscaling behaviour while paused. ([#3009](https://github.com/kedacore/keda/issues/3009))
 
 ## v2.7.0
 
diff --git a/pkg/scaling/executor/scale_scaledobjects.go b/pkg/scaling/executor/scale_scaledobjects.go
index 25797b43ceb..b3e2db9fcb8 100644
--- a/pkg/scaling/executor/scale_scaledobjects.go
+++ b/pkg/scaling/executor/scale_scaledobjects.go
@@ -93,23 +93,26 @@ func (e *scaleExecutor) RequestScale(ctx context.Context, scaledObject *kedav1al
 	}
 
 	status := scaledObject.Status.DeepCopy()
-	if pausedCount != nil && *pausedCount != currentReplicas && status.PausedReplicaCount == nil {
-		_, err := e.updateScaleOnScaleTarget(ctx, scaledObject, currentScale, *pausedCount)
-		if err != nil {
-			logger.Error(err, "error scaling target to paused replicas count", "paused replicas", *pausedCount)
-			if err := e.setReadyCondition(ctx, logger, scaledObject, metav1.ConditionUnknown,
-				kedav1alpha1.ScaledObjectConditionReadySucccesReason, kedav1alpha1.ScaledObjectConditionReadySuccessMessage); err != nil {
-				logger.Error(err, "error setting ready condition")
+	if pausedCount != nil {
+		// Scale the target to the paused replica count
+		if *pausedCount != currentReplicas {
+			_, err := e.updateScaleOnScaleTarget(ctx, scaledObject, currentScale, *pausedCount)
+			if err != nil {
+				logger.Error(err, "error scaling target to paused replicas count", "paused replicas", *pausedCount)
+				if err := e.setReadyCondition(ctx, logger, scaledObject, metav1.ConditionUnknown,
+					kedav1alpha1.ScaledObjectConditionReadySucccesReason, kedav1alpha1.ScaledObjectConditionReadySuccessMessage); err != nil {
+					logger.Error(err, "error setting ready condition")
+				}
+				return
 			}
-			return
-		}
-		status.PausedReplicaCount = pausedCount
-		err = kedacontrollerutil.UpdateScaledObjectStatus(ctx, e.client, logger, scaledObject, status)
-		if err != nil {
-			logger.Error(err, "error updating status paused replica count")
-			return
+			status.PausedReplicaCount = pausedCount
+			err = kedacontrollerutil.UpdateScaledObjectStatus(ctx, e.client, logger, scaledObject, status)
+			if err != nil {
+				logger.Error(err, "error updating status paused replica count")
+				return
+			}
+			logger.Info("Successfully scaled target to paused replicas count", "paused replicas", *pausedCount)
 		}
-		logger.Info("Successfully scaled target to paused replicas count", "paused replicas", *pausedCount)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -355,6 +358,8 @@ func getIdleOrMinimumReplicaCount(scaledObject *kedav1alpha1.ScaledObject) (bool
 	return false, *scaledObject.Spec.MinReplicaCount
 }
 
+// GetPausedReplicaCount returns the paused replica count of the ScaledObject.
+// If not paused, it returns nil.
 func GetPausedReplicaCount(scaledObject *kedav1alpha1.ScaledObject) (*int32, error) {
 	if scaledObject.Annotations != nil {
 		if val, ok := scaledObject.Annotations[kedacontrollerutil.PausedReplicasAnnotation]; ok {
diff --git a/tests/scalers/azure-queue-pause.test.ts b/tests/scalers/azure-queue-pause.test.ts
index 7624e5b6fc7..777bed7b669 100644
--- a/tests/scalers/azure-queue-pause.test.ts
+++ b/tests/scalers/azure-queue-pause.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import * as azure from 'azure-storage'
 import * as sh from 'shelljs'
 import * as tmp from 'tmp'
 import test from 'ava'
-import {createNamespace, waitForDeploymentReplicaCount} from "./helpers";
+import {createNamespace, waitForDeploymentReplicaCount, sleep} from "./helpers";
 
 const testNamespace = 'pause-test'
 const deploymentFile = tmp.fileSync()
@@ -60,6 +60,24 @@ test.serial(
   }
 )
 
+test.serial.cb(
+  'Deployment should remain at pausedReplicaCount (0) even with messages on storage',
+  t => {
+    const queueSvc = azure.createQueueService(connectionString)
+    queueSvc.messageEncoder = new azure.QueueMessageEncoder.TextBase64QueueMessageEncoder()
+    async.mapLimit(
+      Array(1000).keys(),
+      20,
+      (n, cb) => queueSvc.createMessage(queueName, `test ${n}`, cb),
+      async () => {
+        t.true(await checkIfReplicaCountGreater(0, 'test-deployment', testNamespace, 60, 1000), 'replica count remain 0 after 1 minute')
+        queueSvc.clearMessages(queueName, _ => {})
+        t.end()
+      }
+    )
+  }
+)
+
 test.serial(`Updsating ScaledObject (without annotation) should work`, async t => {
   fs.writeFileSync(scaledObjectFile.name, scaledObjectYaml)
   t.is(
@@ -118,6 +136,24 @@ test.after.always.cb('clean up workload test related deployments', t => {
   t.end()
 })
 
+
+// checks if the current replica count is greater than the given target count for a given interval.
+// returns false if it is greater, otherwise true.
+async function checkIfReplicaCountGreater(target: number, name: string, namespace: string, iterations = 10, interval = 3000): Promise<boolean> {
+    for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
+        let replicaCountStr = sh.exec(`kubectl get deployment.apps/${name} --namespace ${namespace} -o jsonpath="{.spec.replicas}"`).stdout
+        try {
+            const replicaCount = parseInt(replicaCountStr, 10)
+            if (replicaCount > target) {
+                return false
+            }
+        } catch { }
+
+        await sleep(interval)
+    }
+    return true
+}
+
 const deployYaml = `apiVersion: v1
 kind: Secret
 metadata: