diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
index b7e3c2fd8a7..1cf1e72e945 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/cliconf/__init__.py
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ from functools import wraps
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleConnectionFailure
 from ansible.module_utils.six import with_metaclass
 
+try:
+    from scp import SCPClient
+    HAS_SCP = True
+except ImportError:
+    HAS_SCP = False
+
+
 try:
     from __main__ import display
 except ImportError:
@@ -181,8 +188,16 @@ class CliconfBase(with_metaclass(ABCMeta, object)):
 
     def put_file(self, source, destination):
         """Copies file over scp to remote device"""
-        pass
+        if not HAS_SCP:
+            self._connection.internal_error("Required library scp is not installed.  Please install it using `pip install scp`")
+        ssh = self._connection._connect_uncached()
+        with SCPClient(ssh.get_transport()) as scp:
+            scp.put(source, destination)
 
     def fetch_file(self, source, destination):
         """Fetch file over scp from remote device"""
-        pass
+        if not HAS_SCP:
+            self._connection.internal_error("Required library scp is not installed.  Please install it using `pip install scp`")
+        ssh = self._connection._connect_uncached()
+        with SCPClient(ssh.get_transport()) as scp:
+            scp.get(source, destination)