- If `PreBindPreFlight` returned `Skip`, the scheduler didn't run the plugin at `PreBind`.
  If any `PreBindPreFlight` returned `Success`, the scheduler put NominatedNodeName to the pod 
  so that other components (such as the cluster autoscaler) could notice the pod was going to be bound to the node. ([#133021](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/133021), [@sanposhiho](https://github.com/sanposhiho)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]

- The scheduler now clears the `nominatedNodeName` field for Pods upon scheduling or binding failure. External components, such as Cluster Autoscaler and Karpenter, should not overwrite this field. ([#135007](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/135007), [@ania-borowiec](https://github.com/ania-borowiec)) [SIG Scheduling and Testing]

- Kube-controller-manager: the `horizontal-pod-autoscaler-upscale-delay` and `horizontal-pod-autoscaler-downscale-delay` flags have been removed (deprecated and non-functional since v1.12). ([#124948](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124948), [@SataQiu](https://github.com/SataQiu)) [SIG API Machinery, Apps and Autoscaling]...

  
  - `cronjob-controller`
  - `endpoint-controller`
  - `endpointslice-controller`
  - `endpointslicemirroring-controller`
  - `horizontal-pod-autoscaler`
  - `node-controller`
  - `pod-garbage-collector`
  - `storage-version-migrator-controller` ([#130405](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130405), [@kariya-mitsuru](https://github.com/kariya-mitsuru)) [SIG Auth]

- Restartable init containers resource in pod autoscaler are now calculated. ([#120001](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120001), [@qingwave](https://github.com/qingwave))

  
  - `cronjob-controller`
  - `endpoint-controller`
  - `endpointslice-controller`
  - `endpointslicemirroring-controller`
  - `horizontal-pod-autoscaler`
  - `node-controller`
  - `pod-garbage-collector`
  - `storage-version-migrator-controller` ([#130461](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/130461), [@kariya-mitsuru](https://github.com/kariya-mitsuru)) [SIG Auth]

- Updated `Cluster Autosaler` to version 1.26.1. ([#116526](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/116526), [@pacoxu](https://github.com/pacoxu)) [SIG Autoscaling and Cloud Provider]