diff --git a/bin/brakeman b/bin/brakeman
index 7ac2012341dd5aef10d5b7af213552d228966613..f7e618e39d696fbb65f0f66e795b4e2180170f2e 100755
--- a/bin/brakeman
+++ b/bin/brakeman
@@ -56,22 +56,23 @@ if options[:quiet].nil?
   options[:quiet] = :command_line
 end
 
-if options[:previous_results_json]
-  vulns = Brakeman.compare options.merge(:quiet => options[:quiet])
-  puts MultiJson.dump(vulns, :pretty => true)
+begin
+  if options[:previous_results_json]
+    vulns = Brakeman.compare options.merge(:quiet => options[:quiet])
+    puts MultiJson.dump(vulns, :pretty => true)
 
-  if options[:exit_on_warn] and (vulns[:new].count + vulns[:fixed].count > 0)
-    exit Brakeman::Warnings_Found_Exit_Code
-  end
-else
-  #Run scan and output a report
-  tracker = Brakeman.run options.merge(:print_report => true, :quiet => options[:quiet])
+    if options[:exit_on_warn] and (vulns[:new].count + vulns[:fixed].count > 0)
+      exit Brakeman::Warnings_Found_Exit_Code
+    end
+  else
+    #Run scan and output a report
+    tracker = Brakeman.run options.merge(:print_report => true, :quiet => options[:quiet])
 
-  #Return error code if --exit-on-warn is used and warnings were found
-  if options[:exit_on_warn] and not tracker.checks.all_warnings.empty?
-    exit Brakeman::Warnings_Found_Exit_Code
+    #Return error code if --exit-on-warn is used and warnings were found
+    if options[:exit_on_warn] and not tracker.checks.all_warnings.empty?
+      exit Brakeman::Warnings_Found_Exit_Code
+    end
   end
+rescue Brakeman::Scanner::NoApplication => e
+  $stderr.puts e.message
 end
-
-
-
diff --git a/lib/brakeman/scanner.rb b/lib/brakeman/scanner.rb
index 8184eb7469cb90c971261b428151da364f2fc0cc..509775e5a10e8cb1d620c351ded284a4514cb849 100644
--- a/lib/brakeman/scanner.rb
+++ b/lib/brakeman/scanner.rb
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class Brakeman::Scanner
     @app_tree = Brakeman::AppTree.from_options(options)
 
     if !@app_tree.root || !@app_tree.exists?("app")
-      abort("Please supply the path to a Rails application.")
+      raise NoApplication, "Please supply the path to a Rails application."
     end
 
     if @app_tree.exists?("script/rails")
@@ -355,4 +355,6 @@ class Brakeman::Scanner
   def parse_ruby input
     @ruby_parser.new.parse input
   end
+
+  class NoApplication < RuntimeError; end
 end