How to edit properties of root node on inherited scene?

Godot Version

4.2.1

Question

I have an abstract scene where the root node is a Sprite2D. I would like to inherit a few sub-scenes from this one, and then populate that root Sprite2D with actual properties (texture, rotation, etc). Trouble is, when I do this, the properties propagate back up the inheritance chain and end up changing the super-scene root node. Is this a known issue? Or is it likely I’m doing something wrong?

I have managed to make this work by making the super-scene root node a Node2D, where I don’t change anything about that Node2D in the sub-scenes. The Sprite2D becomes a child of the Node2D, and the edits to Sprite2D do not propagate up the chain (because now Sprite2D is not the root node, I am guessing). However, this feels very clunky, I feel like I must be doing it wrong.

Thanks for any advice!