diff --git a/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java b/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
index f586c8cf611..398cb40b771 100644
--- a/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
+++ b/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
@@ -1575,16 +1575,18 @@ else if (paginationEnabledList) {
 
                     // Restore the previous projection, add settings for the pagination parameters,
                     // and then execute the query.
-                    if (projectionList != null && projectionList.getLength() > 0) {
-                        criteria.setProjection(projectionList);
-                    } else {
-                        criteria.setProjection(null);
-                    }
+                    boolean isProjection = (projectionList != null && projectionList.getLength() > 0);
+                    criteria.setProjection(isProjection ? projectionList : null);
+
                     for (Order orderEntry : orderEntries) {
                         criteria.addOrder(orderEntry);
                     }
                     if (resultTransformer == null) {
-                        criteria.setResultTransformer(CriteriaSpecification.ROOT_ENTITY);
+                        // GRAILS-9644 - Use projection transformer
+                        criteria.setResultTransformer( isProjection ?
+                                CriteriaSpecification.PROJECTION :
+                                CriteriaSpecification.ROOT_ENTITY
+                        );
                     }
                     else if (paginationEnabledList) {
                         // relevant to GRAILS-5692
diff --git a/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate4/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java b/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate4/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
index f822c6c91b6..ac70d2fa68b 100644
--- a/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate4/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
+++ b/grails-datastore-gorm-hibernate4/src/main/groovy/grails/orm/HibernateCriteriaBuilder.java
@@ -1575,16 +1575,18 @@ else if (paginationEnabledList) {
 
                     // Restore the previous projection, add settings for the pagination parameters,
                     // and then execute the query.
-                    if (projectionList != null && projectionList.getLength() > 0) {
-                        criteria.setProjection(projectionList);
-                    } else {
-                        criteria.setProjection(null);
-                    }
+                    boolean isProjection = (projectionList != null && projectionList.getLength() > 0);
+                    criteria.setProjection(isProjection ? projectionList : null);
+
                     for (Order orderEntry : orderEntries) {
                         criteria.addOrder(orderEntry);
                     }
                     if (resultTransformer == null) {
-                        criteria.setResultTransformer(CriteriaSpecification.ROOT_ENTITY);
+                        // GRAILS-9644 - Use projection transformer
+                        criteria.setResultTransformer( isProjection ?
+                                CriteriaSpecification.PROJECTION :
+                                CriteriaSpecification.ROOT_ENTITY
+                        );
                     }
                     else if (paginationEnabledList) {
                         // relevant to GRAILS-5692