diff --git a/src/buttons/buttons.js b/src/buttons/buttons.js
index 8a14bf8557..9477e32317 100644
--- a/src/buttons/buttons.js
+++ b/src/buttons/buttons.js
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ angular.module('ui.bootstrap.buttons')
       $log.warn('ButtonsController is now deprecated. Use UibButtonsController instead.');
     }
 
-    return $controller('UibButtonsController');
+    angular.extend(this, $controller('UibButtonsController'));
   }])
 
   .directive('btnRadio', ['$log', '$buttonsSuppressWarning', function($log, $buttonsSuppressWarning) {