diff --git a/source/blender/blenkernel/intern/layer.cc b/source/blender/blenkernel/intern/layer.cc
index 6c0c9bc7c94..9c09cb0838c 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenkernel/intern/layer.cc
+++ b/source/blender/blenkernel/intern/layer.cc
@@ -403,6 +403,9 @@ Base *BKE_view_layer_base_find(ViewLayer *view_layer, Object *ob)
 
 void BKE_view_layer_base_deselect_all(const Scene *scene, ViewLayer *view_layer)
 {
+  BLI_assert(scene);
+  BLI_assert(view_layer);
+
   BKE_view_layer_synced_ensure(scene, view_layer);
   LISTBASE_FOREACH (Base *, base, BKE_view_layer_object_bases_get(view_layer)) {
     base->flag &= ~BASE_SELECTED;
@@ -987,6 +990,9 @@ void BKE_view_layer_need_resync_tag(ViewLayer *view_layer)
 
 void BKE_view_layer_synced_ensure(const Scene *scene, ViewLayer *view_layer)
 {
+  BLI_assert(scene);
+  BLI_assert(view_layer);
+
   if (view_layer->flag & VIEW_LAYER_OUT_OF_SYNC) {
     BKE_layer_collection_sync(scene, view_layer);
     view_layer->flag &= ~VIEW_LAYER_OUT_OF_SYNC;
diff --git a/source/blender/windowmanager/intern/wm_files_link.cc b/source/blender/windowmanager/intern/wm_files_link.cc
index e352a6c5c7c..1d7f7648f19 100644
--- a/source/blender/windowmanager/intern/wm_files_link.cc
+++ b/source/blender/windowmanager/intern/wm_files_link.cc
@@ -258,6 +258,12 @@ static int wm_link_append_exec(bContext *C, wmOperator *op)
   int flag = wm_link_append_flag(op);
   const bool do_append = (flag & FILE_LINK) == 0;
 
+  /* from here down, no error returns */
+
+  if (view_layer && RNA_boolean_get(op->ptr, "autoselect")) {
+    BKE_view_layer_base_deselect_all(scene, view_layer);
+  }
+
   /* sanity checks for flag */
   if (scene && scene->id.lib) {
     BKE_reportf(op->reports,
@@ -268,12 +274,6 @@ static int wm_link_append_exec(bContext *C, wmOperator *op)
     scene = nullptr;
   }
 
-  /* from here down, no error returns */
-
-  if (view_layer && RNA_boolean_get(op->ptr, "autoselect")) {
-    BKE_view_layer_base_deselect_all(scene, view_layer);
-  }
-
   /* tag everything, all untagged data can be made local
    * its also generally useful to know what is new
    *
@@ -383,7 +383,9 @@ static int wm_link_append_exec(bContext *C, wmOperator *op)
    * to all objects and limit update to the particular object only.
    * But afraid first we need to change collection evaluation in DEG
    * according to depsgraph manifesto. */
-  DEG_id_tag_update(&scene->id, 0);
+  if (scene) {
+    DEG_id_tag_update(&scene->id, 0);
+  }
 
   /* recreate dependency graph to include new objects */
   DEG_relations_tag_update(bmain);