Methods, systems, and devices for media scrubber operations in a memory system are described. A controller may, for example, count a quantity of forwarded code words in a memory medium during a scrubbing period. The controller may add the quantity to a total quantity of forwarded code words in the memory medium. The controller may refrain from forwarding additional code words based on the quantity. The controller may write a valid logic state to a spare bit when the spare bit is assigned to an erroneous bit in a code word. A separate memory cell may indicate a change in spare bit assignments and whether spare bits include valid logic states. The controller may retrieve a code word from a memory medium and invert one or more bits of the code word before writing the code word to the memory medium.