diff --git a/datafusion-examples/examples/advanced_udf.rs b/datafusion-examples/examples/advanced_udf.rs
index 6ebf88a0b671b..d530b9abe030a 100644
--- a/datafusion-examples/examples/advanced_udf.rs
+++ b/datafusion-examples/examples/advanced_udf.rs
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 /// the power of the second argument `a^b`.
 ///
 /// To do so, we must implement the `ScalarUDFImpl` trait.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 struct PowUdf {
     signature: Signature,
     aliases: Vec<String>,
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
index ebf4d3143c122..5617d217eb9f8 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr.rs
@@ -1948,6 +1948,7 @@ mod test {
         );
 
         // UDF
+        #[derive(Debug)]
         struct TestScalarUDF {
             signature: Signature,
         }
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
index eed41d97ccba1..5439754b8b663 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/expr_fn.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ use crate::{ColumnarValue, ScalarUDFImpl, WindowUDF};
 use arrow::datatypes::DataType;
 use datafusion_common::{Column, Result};
 use std::any::Any;
+use std::fmt::Debug;
 use std::ops::Not;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -983,6 +984,16 @@ pub struct SimpleScalarUDF {
     fun: ScalarFunctionImplementation,
 }
 
+impl Debug for SimpleScalarUDF {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("ScalarUDF")
+            .field("name", &self.name)
+            .field("signature", &self.signature)
+            .field("fun", &"<FUNC>")
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
 impl SimpleScalarUDF {
     /// Create a new `SimpleScalarUDF` from a name, input types, return type and
     /// implementation. Implementing [`ScalarUDFImpl`] allows more flexibility
diff --git a/datafusion/expr/src/udf.rs b/datafusion/expr/src/udf.rs
index 2ec80a4a9ea1c..6c9b6a6363e08 100644
--- a/datafusion/expr/src/udf.rs
+++ b/datafusion/expr/src/udf.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
 // or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
 // distributed with this work for additional information
 // regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
@@ -35,48 +36,26 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 /// functions you supply such name, type signature, return type, and actual
 /// implementation.
 ///
-///
 /// 1. For simple (less performant) use cases, use [`create_udf`] and [`simple_udf.rs`].
 ///
 /// 2. For advanced use cases, use  [`ScalarUDFImpl`] and [`advanced_udf.rs`].
 ///
+/// # API Note
+///
+/// This is a separate struct from `ScalarUDFImpl` to maintain backwards
+/// compatibility with the older API.
+///
 /// [`create_udf`]: crate::expr_fn::create_udf
 /// [`simple_udf.rs`]: https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/blob/main/datafusion-examples/examples/simple_udf.rs
 /// [`advanced_udf.rs`]: https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/blob/main/datafusion-examples/examples/advanced_udf.rs
-#[derive(Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct ScalarUDF {
-    /// The name of the function
-    name: String,
-    /// The signature (the types of arguments that are supported)
-    signature: Signature,
-    /// Function that returns the return type given the argument types
-    return_type: ReturnTypeFunction,
-    /// actual implementation
-    ///
-    /// The fn param is the wrapped function but be aware that the function will
-    /// be passed with the slice / vec of columnar values (either scalar or array)
-    /// with the exception of zero param function, where a singular element vec
-    /// will be passed. In that case the single element is a null array to indicate
-    /// the batch's row count (so that the generative zero-argument function can know
-    /// the result array size).
-    fun: ScalarFunctionImplementation,
-    /// Optional aliases for the function. This list should NOT include the value of `name` as well
-    aliases: Vec<String>,
-}
-
-impl Debug for ScalarUDF {
-    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
-        f.debug_struct("ScalarUDF")
-            .field("name", &self.name)
-            .field("signature", &self.signature)
-            .field("fun", &"<FUNC>")
-            .finish()
-    }
+    inner: Arc<dyn ScalarUDFImpl>,
 }
 
 impl PartialEq for ScalarUDF {
     fn eq(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
-        self.name == other.name && self.signature == other.signature
+        self.name() == other.name() && self.signature() == other.signature()
     }
 }
 
@@ -84,8 +63,8 @@ impl Eq for ScalarUDF {}
 
 impl std::hash::Hash for ScalarUDF {
     fn hash<H: std::hash::Hasher>(&self, state: &mut H) {
-        self.name.hash(state);
-        self.signature.hash(state);
+        self.name().hash(state);
+        self.signature().hash(state);
     }
 }
 
@@ -101,13 +80,12 @@ impl ScalarUDF {
         return_type: &ReturnTypeFunction,
         fun: &ScalarFunctionImplementation,
     ) -> Self {
-        Self {
+        Self::new_from_impl(ScalarUdfLegacyWrapper {
             name: name.to_owned(),
             signature: signature.clone(),
             return_type: return_type.clone(),
             fun: fun.clone(),
-            aliases: vec![],
-        }
+        })
     }
 
     /// Create a new `ScalarUDF` from a `[ScalarUDFImpl]` trait object
@@ -115,37 +93,24 @@ impl ScalarUDF {
     /// Note this is the same as using the `From` impl (`ScalarUDF::from`)
     pub fn new_from_impl<F>(fun: F) -> ScalarUDF
     where
-        F: ScalarUDFImpl + Send + Sync + 'static,
+        F: ScalarUDFImpl + 'static,
     {
-        // TODO change the internal implementation to use the trait object
-        let arc_fun = Arc::new(fun);
-        let captured_self = arc_fun.clone();
-        let return_type: ReturnTypeFunction = Arc::new(move |arg_types| {
-            let return_type = captured_self.return_type(arg_types)?;
-            Ok(Arc::new(return_type))
-        });
-
-        let captured_self = arc_fun.clone();
-        let func: ScalarFunctionImplementation =
-            Arc::new(move |args| captured_self.invoke(args));
-
         Self {
-            name: arc_fun.name().to_string(),
-            signature: arc_fun.signature().clone(),
-            return_type: return_type.clone(),
-            fun: func,
-            aliases: arc_fun.aliases().to_vec(),
+            inner: Arc::new(fun),
         }
     }
 
-    /// Adds additional names that can be used to invoke this function, in addition to `name`
-    pub fn with_aliases(
-        mut self,
-        aliases: impl IntoIterator<Item = &'static str>,
-    ) -> Self {
-        self.aliases
-            .extend(aliases.into_iter().map(|s| s.to_string()));
-        self
+    /// Return the underlying [`ScalarUDFImpl`] trait object for this function
+    pub fn inner(&self) -> Arc<dyn ScalarUDFImpl> {
+        self.inner.clone()
+    }
+
+    /// Adds additional names that can be used to invoke this function, in
+    /// addition to `name`
+    ///
+    /// If you implement [`ScalarUDFImpl`] directly you can return aliases directly.
+    pub fn with_aliases(self, aliases: impl IntoIterator<Item = &'static str>) -> Self {
+        Self::new_from_impl(AliasedScalarUDFImpl::new(self, aliases))
     }
 
     /// Returns a [`Expr`] logical expression to call this UDF with specified
@@ -159,31 +124,47 @@ impl ScalarUDF {
         ))
     }
 
-    /// Returns this function's name
+    /// Returns this function's name.
+    ///
+    /// See [`ScalarUDFImpl::name`] for more details.
     pub fn name(&self) -> &str {
-        &self.name
+        self.inner.name()
     }
 
-    /// Returns the aliases for this function. See [`ScalarUDF::with_aliases`] for more details
+    /// Returns the aliases for this function.
+    ///
+    /// See [`ScalarUDF::with_aliases`] for more details
     pub fn aliases(&self) -> &[String] {
-        &self.aliases
+        self.inner.aliases()
     }
 
-    /// Returns this function's [`Signature`] (what input types are accepted)
+    /// Returns this function's [`Signature`] (what input types are accepted).
+    ///
+    /// See [`ScalarUDFImpl::signature`] for more details.
     pub fn signature(&self) -> &Signature {
-        &self.signature
+        self.inner.signature()
     }
 
-    /// The datatype this function returns given the input argument input types
+    /// The datatype this function returns given the input argument input types.
+    ///
+    /// See [`ScalarUDFImpl::return_type`] for more details.
     pub fn return_type(&self, args: &[DataType]) -> Result<DataType> {
-        // Old API returns an Arc of the datatype for some reason
-        let res = (self.return_type)(args)?;
-        Ok(res.as_ref().clone())
+        self.inner.return_type(args)
+    }
+
+    /// Invoke the function on `args`, returning the appropriate result.
+    ///
+    /// See [`ScalarUDFImpl::invoke`] for more details.
+    pub fn invoke(&self, args: &[ColumnarValue]) -> Result<ColumnarValue> {
+        self.inner.invoke(args)
     }
 
-    /// Return an [`Arc`] to the function implementation
+    /// Returns a `ScalarFunctionImplementation` that can invoke the function
     pub fn fun(&self) -> ScalarFunctionImplementation {
-        self.fun.clone()
+        // TODO: use ScalarUDF directly in `ScalarFunctionExpr` and remove this
+        // method
+        let captured = self.inner.clone();
+        Arc::new(move |args| captured.invoke(args))
     }
 }
 
@@ -246,7 +227,7 @@ where
 /// // Call the function `add_one(col)`
 /// let expr = add_one.call(vec![col("a")]);
 /// ```
-pub trait ScalarUDFImpl {
+pub trait ScalarUDFImpl: Debug + Send + Sync {
     /// Returns this object as an [`Any`] trait object
     fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn Any;
 
@@ -292,3 +273,105 @@ pub trait ScalarUDFImpl {
         &[]
     }
 }
+
+/// ScalarUDF that adds an alias to the underlying function. It is better to
+/// implement [`ScalarUDFImpl`], which supports aliases, directly if possible.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct AliasedScalarUDFImpl {
+    inner: ScalarUDF,
+    aliases: Vec<String>,
+}
+
+impl AliasedScalarUDFImpl {
+    pub fn new(
+        inner: ScalarUDF,
+        new_aliases: impl IntoIterator<Item = &'static str>,
+    ) -> Self {
+        let mut aliases = inner.aliases().to_vec();
+        aliases.extend(new_aliases.into_iter().map(|s| s.to_string()));
+
+        Self { inner, aliases }
+    }
+}
+
+impl ScalarUDFImpl for AliasedScalarUDFImpl {
+    fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn Any {
+        self
+    }
+    fn name(&self) -> &str {
+        self.inner.name()
+    }
+
+    fn signature(&self) -> &Signature {
+        self.inner.signature()
+    }
+
+    fn return_type(&self, arg_types: &[DataType]) -> Result<DataType> {
+        self.inner.return_type(arg_types)
+    }
+
+    fn invoke(&self, args: &[ColumnarValue]) -> Result<ColumnarValue> {
+        self.inner.invoke(args)
+    }
+
+    fn aliases(&self) -> &[String] {
+        &self.aliases
+    }
+}
+
+/// Implementation of [`ScalarUDFImpl`] that wraps the function style pointers of the older API
+/// (see https://github.com/apache/arrow-datafusion/pull/8578)
+struct ScalarUdfLegacyWrapper {
+    /// The name of the function
+    name: String,
+    /// The signature (the types of arguments that are supported)
+    signature: Signature,
+    /// Function that returns the return type given the argument types
+    return_type: ReturnTypeFunction,
+    /// actual implementation
+    ///
+    /// The fn param is the wrapped function but be aware that the function will
+    /// be passed with the slice / vec of columnar values (either scalar or array)
+    /// with the exception of zero param function, where a singular element vec
+    /// will be passed. In that case the single element is a null array to indicate
+    /// the batch's row count (so that the generative zero-argument function can know
+    /// the result array size).
+    fun: ScalarFunctionImplementation,
+}
+
+impl Debug for ScalarUdfLegacyWrapper {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("ScalarUDF")
+            .field("name", &self.name)
+            .field("signature", &self.signature)
+            .field("fun", &"<FUNC>")
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
+impl ScalarUDFImpl for ScalarUdfLegacyWrapper {
+    fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn Any {
+        self
+    }
+    fn name(&self) -> &str {
+        &self.name
+    }
+
+    fn signature(&self) -> &Signature {
+        &self.signature
+    }
+
+    fn return_type(&self, arg_types: &[DataType]) -> Result<DataType> {
+        // Old API returns an Arc of the datatype for some reason
+        let res = (self.return_type)(arg_types)?;
+        Ok(res.as_ref().clone())
+    }
+
+    fn invoke(&self, args: &[ColumnarValue]) -> Result<ColumnarValue> {
+        (self.fun)(args)
+    }
+
+    fn aliases(&self) -> &[String] {
+        &[]
+    }
+}
diff --git a/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs b/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
index 4d54dad996703..6f1da5f4e6d9b 100644
--- a/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
+++ b/datafusion/optimizer/src/analyzer/type_coercion.rs
@@ -811,6 +811,7 @@ mod test {
 
     static TEST_SIGNATURE: OnceLock<Signature> = OnceLock::new();
 
+    #[derive(Debug, Clone, Default)]
     struct TestScalarUDF {}
     impl ScalarUDFImpl for TestScalarUDF {
         fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn Any {