diff --git a/frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_Clipboard.cpp b/frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_Clipboard.cpp
index b663d6ff2b9d22..2407e1014a87f0 100644
--- a/frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_Clipboard.cpp
+++ b/frontend/widgets/OBSBasic_Clipboard.cpp
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@ OBS::ItemPasteType OBSBasic::getItemPasteType()
 		return OBS::ItemPasteType::Invalid;
 	}
 
+	bool allowPastingReference = true;
 	bool allowPastingDuplicate = true;
 	for (size_t i = clipboard.size(); i > 0; i--) {
 		const size_t idx = i - 1;
@@ -290,6 +291,19 @@ OBS::ItemPasteType OBSBasic::getItemPasteType()
 		if (allowPastingDuplicate && obs_source_get_output_flags(strong) & OBS_SOURCE_DO_NOT_DUPLICATE) {
 			allowPastingDuplicate = false;
 		}
+
+		if (allowPastingReference && obs_source_is_group(strong)) {
+			allowPastingReference = false;
+		}
 	}
-	return allowPastingDuplicate ? OBS::ItemPasteType::Both : OBS::ItemPasteType::Reference;
+
+	if (allowPastingReference && allowPastingDuplicate) {
+		return OBS::ItemPasteType::Both;
+	} else if (allowPastingReference) {
+		return OBS::ItemPasteType::Reference;
+	} else if (allowPastingDuplicate) {
+		return OBS::ItemPasteType::Duplicate;
+	}
+
+	return OBS::ItemPasteType::Invalid;
 }
diff --git a/libobs/obs-scene.c b/libobs/obs-scene.c
index 02fa144a26b63d..703b24d5660edc 100644
--- a/libobs/obs-scene.c
+++ b/libobs/obs-scene.c
@@ -1961,7 +1961,8 @@ obs_scene_t *obs_scene_duplicate(obs_scene_t *scene, const char *name, enum obs_
 
 	for (size_t i = 0; i < items.num; i++) {
 		item = items.array[i];
-		source = make_unique ? dup_child(&items, i, new_scene, make_private) : new_ref(item->source);
+		source = (make_unique || item->is_group) ? dup_child(&items, i, new_scene, make_private)
+							 : new_ref(item->source);
 
 		if (source) {
 			struct obs_scene_item *new_item = obs_scene_add(new_scene, source);