diff --git a/lib/normalize.js b/lib/normalize.js
index e3b3798..e400dfd 100644
--- a/lib/normalize.js
+++ b/lib/normalize.js
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ const normalize = async (pkg, { strict, steps, root, changes, allowLegacyCase })
 
   // strip "node_modules/.bin" from scripts entries
   // remove invalid scripts entries (non-strings)
-  if (steps.includes('scripts') || steps.includes('scriptpath')) {
+  if ((steps.includes('scripts') || steps.includes('scriptpath')) && data.scripts !== undefined) {
     const spre = /^(\.[/\\])?node_modules[/\\].bin[\\/]/
     if (typeof data.scripts === 'object') {
       for (const name in data.scripts) {
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/fix.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/fix.js.test.cjs
index d6cc1f3..fc9faa8 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/fix.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/fix.js.test.cjs
@@ -116,6 +116,16 @@ Array [
 ]
 `
 
+exports[`test/fix.js TAP with changes scriptpath falsy scripts > must match snapshot 1`] = `
+Array [
+  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
+]
+`
+
+exports[`test/fix.js TAP with changes scriptpath no scripts > must match snapshot 1`] = `
+Array []
+`
+
 exports[`test/fix.js TAP with changes scriptpath non-object script entry > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Invalid scripts.\\"test\\" was removed",
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test/normalize.js.test.cjs b/tap-snapshots/test/normalize.js.test.cjs
index b42599e..b626516 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test/normalize.js.test.cjs
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test/normalize.js.test.cjs
@@ -8,14 +8,12 @@
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bundleDependencies change name if bundleDependencies is not present > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bundleDependencies dont array-ify if its an array already > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -23,7 +21,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bund
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "\\"bundleDependencies\\" was changed from an object to an array",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -31,7 +28,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bund
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "\\"bundleDependencies\\" was changed from \\"false\\" to \\"[]\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -39,7 +35,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bund
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "\\"bundleDependencies\\" was auto-populated from \\"dependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -47,7 +42,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bund
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "\\"bundleDependencies\\" was auto-populated from \\"dependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -55,7 +49,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes clean up bund
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "\\"bundleDependencies\\" was auto-populated from \\"dependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -77,14 +70,12 @@ Array [
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes cleanup bins delete string bin when no name > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes cleanup bins handle string when a name is set > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
   "\\"bin\\" was converted to an object",
 ]
 `
@@ -92,14 +83,12 @@ Array [
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes cleanup bins remove non-object bin > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes cleanup bins remove non-string bin values > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
   "removed invalid \\"bin[y]\\"",
   "removed invalid \\"bin[z]\\"",
 ]
@@ -108,7 +97,6 @@ Array [
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes convert funding string to object > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
   "\\"funding\\" was changed to an object with a url attribute",
 ]
 `
@@ -117,7 +105,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes dedupe option
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "optionalDependencies.\\"whowins\\" was removed",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -126,21 +113,18 @@ Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
   "optionalDependencies.\\"whowins\\" was removed",
   "Empty \\"optionalDependencies\\" was removed",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes dedupe optional deps out of regular deps do not create regular deps if only optional specified > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
 exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes normalize bin > must match snapshot 1`] = `
 Array [
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -148,7 +132,6 @@ exports[`test/normalize.js TAP @npmcli/package-json - with changes set _id if na
 Array [
   "\\"_id\\" was set to a@1.2.3",
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
 
@@ -161,6 +144,5 @@ Array [
   "\\"_lodash\\" was removed",
   "\\"_id\\" was set to underscore@1.2.3",
   "Deleted incorrect \\"bundledDependencies\\"",
-  "Removed invalid \\"scripts\\"",
 ]
 `
diff --git a/test/fix.js b/test/fix.js
index 6c611ed..ed80b97 100644
--- a/test/fix.js
+++ b/test/fix.js
@@ -197,6 +197,20 @@ for (const [name, testFix] of Object.entries(testMethods)) {
         const { content } = await testFix(t, testdir)
         t.strictSame(content.scripts, { test: 'test-script' })
       })
+      t.test('no scripts', async t => {
+        const testdir = {
+          'package.json': pkg({ scripts: undefined }),
+        }
+        const { content } = await testFix(t, testdir)
+        t.notHas(content, 'scripts')
+      })
+      t.test('falsy scripts', async t => {
+        const testdir = {
+          'package.json': pkg({ scripts: 0 }),
+        }
+        const { content } = await testFix(t, testdir)
+        t.strictSame(content.scripts, undefined)
+      })
     })
     t.test('bundleDependencies', async t => {
       t.test('null', async t => {