diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/MergeScalarSubqueries.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/MergeScalarSubqueries.scala
index 69f77e8f3f460..1cb3f3f157cfd 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/MergeScalarSubqueries.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/optimizer/MergeScalarSubqueries.scala
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.optimizer
 
+import scala.collection.mutable
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions._
@@ -126,8 +127,14 @@ object MergeScalarSubqueries extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
    *               merged as there can be subqueries that are different ([[checkIdenticalPlans]] is
    *               false) due to an extra [[Project]] node in one of them. In that case
    *               `attributes.size` remains 1 after merging, but the merged flag becomes true.
+   * @param references A set of subquery indexes in the cache to track all (including transitive)
+   *                   nested subqueries.
    */
-  case class Header(attributes: Seq[Attribute], plan: LogicalPlan, merged: Boolean)
+  case class Header(
+      attributes: Seq[Attribute],
+      plan: LogicalPlan,
+      merged: Boolean,
+      references: Set[Int])
 
   private def extractCommonScalarSubqueries(plan: LogicalPlan) = {
     val cache = ArrayBuffer.empty[Header]
@@ -166,26 +173,39 @@ object MergeScalarSubqueries extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
   // "Header".
   private def cacheSubquery(plan: LogicalPlan, cache: ArrayBuffer[Header]): (Int, Int) = {
     val output = plan.output.head
-    cache.zipWithIndex.collectFirst(Function.unlift { case (header, subqueryIndex) =>
-      checkIdenticalPlans(plan, header.plan).map { outputMap =>
-        val mappedOutput = mapAttributes(output, outputMap)
-        val headerIndex = header.attributes.indexWhere(_.exprId == mappedOutput.exprId)
-        subqueryIndex -> headerIndex
-      }.orElse(tryMergePlans(plan, header.plan).map {
-        case (mergedPlan, outputMap) =>
+    val references = mutable.HashSet.empty[Int]
+    plan.transformAllExpressionsWithPruning(_.containsAnyPattern(SCALAR_SUBQUERY_REFERENCE)) {
+      case ssr: ScalarSubqueryReference =>
+        references += ssr.subqueryIndex
+        references ++= cache(ssr.subqueryIndex).references
+        ssr
+    }
+
+    cache.zipWithIndex.collectFirst(Function.unlift {
+      case (header, subqueryIndex) if !references.contains(subqueryIndex) =>
+        checkIdenticalPlans(plan, header.plan).map { outputMap =>
           val mappedOutput = mapAttributes(output, outputMap)
-          var headerIndex = header.attributes.indexWhere(_.exprId == mappedOutput.exprId)
-          val newHeaderAttributes = if (headerIndex == -1) {
-            headerIndex = header.attributes.size
-            header.attributes :+ mappedOutput
-          } else {
-            header.attributes
-          }
-          cache(subqueryIndex) = Header(newHeaderAttributes, mergedPlan, true)
+          val headerIndex = header.attributes.indexWhere(_.exprId == mappedOutput.exprId)
           subqueryIndex -> headerIndex
-      })
+        }.orElse{
+          tryMergePlans(plan, header.plan).map {
+            case (mergedPlan, outputMap) =>
+              val mappedOutput = mapAttributes(output, outputMap)
+              var headerIndex = header.attributes.indexWhere(_.exprId == mappedOutput.exprId)
+              val newHeaderAttributes = if (headerIndex == -1) {
+                headerIndex = header.attributes.size
+                header.attributes :+ mappedOutput
+              } else {
+                header.attributes
+              }
+              cache(subqueryIndex) =
+                Header(newHeaderAttributes, mergedPlan, true, header.references ++ references)
+              subqueryIndex -> headerIndex
+          }
+        }
+      case _ => None
     }).getOrElse {
-      cache += Header(Seq(output), plan, false)
+      cache += Header(Seq(output), plan, false, references.toSet)
       cache.length - 1 -> 0
     }
   }
@@ -210,12 +230,6 @@ object MergeScalarSubqueries extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
       cachedPlan: LogicalPlan): Option[(LogicalPlan, AttributeMap[Attribute])] = {
     checkIdenticalPlans(newPlan, cachedPlan).map(cachedPlan -> _).orElse(
       (newPlan, cachedPlan) match {
-        case (_, _) if newPlan.containsPattern(SCALAR_SUBQUERY_REFERENCE) ||
-          cachedPlan.containsPattern(SCALAR_SUBQUERY_REFERENCE) =>
-          // Subquery expressions with nested subquery expressions within are not supported for now.
-          // TODO: support this optimization by collecting the transitive subquery references in the
-          // new plan and recording them in order to suppress merging the new plan into those.
-          None
         case (np: Project, cp: Project) =>
           tryMergePlans(np.child, cp.child).map { case (mergedChild, outputMap) =>
             val (mergedProjectList, newOutputMap) =
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SubquerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SubquerySuite.scala
index 765c2a5223759..a86ddf388a9b8 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SubquerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SubquerySuite.scala
@@ -2157,7 +2157,7 @@ class SubquerySuite extends QueryTest
     }
   }
 
-  test("SPARK-40618: Do not merge scalar subqueries with nested subqueries inside") {
+  test("Merge non-correlated scalar subqueries from different parent plans") {
     Seq(false, true).foreach { enableAQE =>
       withSQLConf(
         SQLConf.ADAPTIVE_EXECUTION_ENABLED.key -> enableAQE.toString) {
@@ -2189,13 +2189,13 @@ class SubquerySuite extends QueryTest
         }
 
         if (enableAQE) {
-          assert(subqueryIds.size == 4, "Missing or unexpected SubqueryExec in the plan")
-          assert(reusedSubqueryIds.size == 2,
-            "Missing or unexpected reused ReusedSubqueryExec in the plan")
-        } else {
           assert(subqueryIds.size == 3, "Missing or unexpected SubqueryExec in the plan")
           assert(reusedSubqueryIds.size == 3,
             "Missing or unexpected reused ReusedSubqueryExec in the plan")
+        } else {
+          assert(subqueryIds.size == 2, "Missing or unexpected SubqueryExec in the plan")
+          assert(reusedSubqueryIds.size == 4,
+            "Missing or unexpected reused ReusedSubqueryExec in the plan")
         }
       }
     }
@@ -2332,9 +2332,32 @@ class SubquerySuite extends QueryTest
     // This test contains a subquery expression with another subquery expression nested inside.
     // It acts as a regression test to ensure that the MergeScalarSubqueries rule does not attempt
     // to merge them together.
-    withTable("t") {
+    withTable("t", "t2") {
       sql("create table t(col int) using csv")
       checkAnswer(sql("select(select sum((select sum(col) from t)) from t)"), Row(null))
+
+      checkAnswer(sql(
+        """
+          |select
+          |  (select sum(
+          |    (select sum(
+          |        (select sum(col) from t))
+          |     from t))
+          |  from t)
+          |""".stripMargin),
+        Row(null))
+
+      sql("create table t2(col int) using csv")
+      checkAnswer(sql(
+        """
+          |select
+          |  (select sum(
+          |    (select sum(
+          |        (select sum(col) from t))
+          |     from t2))
+          |  from t)
+          |""".stripMargin),
+        Row(null))
     }
   }
 }