I found a night light cut the scratching time down in the litterbox. Seemed that when he could easily see what he was doing there was less problems. Also, I put a kibble dish just outside the bedroom door - in that path to the litterbox - so while in a early morning potty run he'd discover food and not wake me at 4:00 A.M. asking if it's time to get up.

Sometimes early in the morning I'd hear some scratching in the litterbox, clinking of the dry food in the dish and then he'd return to bed, snuggle up to me and go back to sleep. It worked!