Scanning for infrastructure SSIDs during in active AP mode connection

[Tobias Grasse | glancr <tg glancr de>]

Hello everyone,

is it possible to scan for nearby WiFi SSIDs (i.e. get “nmcli d wifi list” to output available networks) 
while network-manager has an active WiFi connection in AP mode?

My usecase: An IoT device creates a setup WiFi (nmcli connection with mode “ap”). During setup, the user 
enters the credentials for their home WiFi so that the device can close the AP and connect to the 
infrastructure network. 

I couldn’t find conclusive info in the manpages, a similar question on SO has no answers yet and when I try 
it out ( duh :-D ), “nmcli d wifi list” lists only the AP WiFi while the AP connection is active. Once I 
deactivate the AP connection, the command returns all nearby networks as expected. Just want to make sure 
that I’m not missing something. 

Unfortunately, I cannot assume that the device has two WiFi interfaces, and the one it has only supports 
simultaneous modes on the same channel. 

Thanks in advance
Tobias