diff --git a/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.cpp b/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.cpp
index 3280f981..53ac7408 100644
--- a/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.cpp
+++ b/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.cpp
@@ -23,14 +23,15 @@ using namespace spdlog;
 using namespace scsi_defs;
 using namespace piscsi_interface;
 
-string ScsiExecutor::Execute(const string& filename, bool binary)
+bool ScsiExecutor::Execute(const string& filename, bool binary, string& result)
 {
     int size = 0;
 
     if (!binary) {
         ifstream in(filename);
         if (in.fail()) {
-            return "Error opening JSON input file '" + filename + "'";
+            result = "Error opening JSON input file '" + filename + "'";
+            return false;
         }
 
         stringstream buf;
@@ -42,7 +43,8 @@ string ScsiExecutor::Execute(const string& filename, bool binary)
     else {
         ifstream in(filename, ios::binary);
         if (in.fail()) {
-            return "Error opening binary input file '" + filename + "'";
+            result = "Error opening binary input file '" + filename + "'";
+            return false;
         }
 
         vector<char> b(file_size(filename));
@@ -63,15 +65,16 @@ string ScsiExecutor::Execute(const string& filename, bool binary)
 
     if (!binary) {
         const string json((const char*) buffer.data(), length);
-        return json;
+        result = json;
     }
     else {
-        PbResult result;
-        if (!result.ParseFromArray(buffer.data(), length)) {
-            assert(false);
+        PbResult r;
+        if (!r.ParseFromArray(buffer.data(), length)) {
+            result = "Error parsing binary protobuf data";
+            return false;
         }
-        string json;
-        google::protobuf::util::MessageToJsonString(result, &json);
-        return json;
+        google::protobuf::util::MessageToJsonString(r, &result);
     }
+
+    return true;
 }
diff --git a/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.h b/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.h
index 2373d082..4e6e448c 100644
--- a/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.h
+++ b/cpp/scsiexec/scsi_executor.h
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public:
     }
     ~ScsiExecutor() = default;
 
-    string Execute(const string&, bool);
+    bool Execute(const string&, bool, string&);
 
     void SetTarget(int id, int lun)
     {
diff --git a/cpp/scsiexec/scsisexec_core.cpp b/cpp/scsiexec/scsisexec_core.cpp
index 5ed21b15..41be9473 100644
--- a/cpp/scsiexec/scsisexec_core.cpp
+++ b/cpp/scsiexec/scsisexec_core.cpp
@@ -156,11 +156,18 @@ int ScsiExec::run(span<char*> args, bool in_process)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 
-    cout << scsi_executor->Execute(filename, binary) << "\n" << flush;
+    string result;
+    const bool status = scsi_executor->Execute(filename, binary, result);
+    if (status) {
+        cout << result << '\n' << flush;
+    }
+    else {
+        cerr << result << endl;
+    }
 
     CleanUp();
 
-    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
+    return status ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
 bool ScsiExec::SetLogLevel() const