diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/ClearScrollController.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/ClearScrollController.java
index 8a19876777ded..9514785450f68 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/ClearScrollController.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/ClearScrollController.java
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.StepListener;
-import org.elasticsearch.action.support.GroupedActionListener;
+import org.elasticsearch.action.support.RefCountingRunnable;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
@@ -154,42 +154,39 @@ public static void closeContexts(
         Collection<SearchContextIdForNode> contextIds,
         ActionListener<Integer> listener
     ) {
-        if (contextIds.isEmpty()) {
-            listener.onResponse(0);
-            return;
-        }
         final Set<String> clusters = contextIds.stream()
-            .filter(ctx -> Strings.isEmpty(ctx.getClusterAlias()) == false)
             .map(SearchContextIdForNode::getClusterAlias)
+            .filter(clusterAlias -> Strings.isEmpty(clusterAlias) == false)
             .collect(Collectors.toSet());
         final StepListener<BiFunction<String, String, DiscoveryNode>> lookupListener = new StepListener<>();
-        if (clusters.isEmpty() == false) {
-            searchTransportService.getRemoteClusterService().collectNodes(clusters, lookupListener);
-        } else {
+        if (clusters.isEmpty()) {
             lookupListener.onResponse((cluster, nodeId) -> nodes.get(nodeId));
+        } else {
+            searchTransportService.getRemoteClusterService().collectNodes(clusters, lookupListener);
         }
-        lookupListener.whenComplete(nodeLookup -> {
-            final GroupedActionListener<Boolean> groupedListener = new GroupedActionListener<>(
-                contextIds.size(),
-                listener.map(rs -> Math.toIntExact(rs.stream().filter(r -> r).count()))
-            );
-            for (SearchContextIdForNode contextId : contextIds) {
-                final DiscoveryNode node = nodeLookup.apply(contextId.getClusterAlias(), contextId.getNode());
-                if (node == null) {
-                    groupedListener.onResponse(false);
-                } else {
-                    try {
-                        final Transport.Connection connection = searchTransportService.getConnection(contextId.getClusterAlias(), node);
-                        searchTransportService.sendFreeContext(
-                            connection,
-                            contextId.getSearchContextId(),
-                            ActionListener.wrap(r -> groupedListener.onResponse(r.isFreed()), e -> groupedListener.onResponse(false))
-                        );
-                    } catch (Exception e) {
-                        groupedListener.onResponse(false);
+        lookupListener.addListener(listener.delegateFailure((l, nodeLookup) -> {
+            final var successes = new AtomicInteger();
+            try (RefCountingRunnable refs = new RefCountingRunnable(() -> l.onResponse(successes.get()))) {
+                for (SearchContextIdForNode contextId : contextIds) {
+                    final DiscoveryNode node = nodeLookup.apply(contextId.getClusterAlias(), contextId.getNode());
+                    if (node != null) {
+                        try {
+                            searchTransportService.sendFreeContext(
+                                searchTransportService.getConnection(contextId.getClusterAlias(), node),
+                                contextId.getSearchContextId(),
+                                refs.acquireListener().map(r -> {
+                                    if (r.isFreed()) {
+                                        successes.incrementAndGet();
+                                    }
+                                    return null;
+                                })
+                            );
+                        } catch (Exception e) {
+                            // ignored
+                        }
                     }
                 }
             }
-        }, listener::onFailure);
+        }));
     }
 }