The scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) - is the oldest method of optical 3D spectroscopy. It is still in use because of the high spectral resolution it provides over a large field of view. The history of the application of this method for the study of extended ob jects (nebulae and galaxies) and the technique of data reduction and analysis are discussed. The paper focuses on the performing observations with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS). The instrument is currently used as a part of the SCORPIO-2 multimode focal reducer. The results of studies of various galactic and extragalactic objects with the scanning FPI on the 6-m telescope - star-forming regions and young stellar objects, spiral, ring, dwarf and interacting galaxies, ionization cones of active galactic nuclei, galactic winds, etc. are briefly discussed. Further prospects for research with the scanning FPI of the SAO RAS are discussed.