I am creating a 2D android game where I have 2 scene (named as MainMenu and SampleScene). I have created UI of both scenes however the issue is of missing GameObject references, when I navigate back to the main menu (By pressing pause button –> Home button) from Sample scene and then start the game again (Play button), it keeps asking to reassign the missing values. It is also showing multiple GameObjects in hierarchy with DoNotDestroy method where I can see the “missing values are shown”. Please help me figure out as I have started learning unity 2d a month ago.[[enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/bmmMf9vU.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/HDJ3ftOy.png)

I am attaching the code for MMElements script and PauseMenu.

public class MMElements : MonoBehaviour
{
    private float previousTimeScale = 1f; // Store the previous time scale before pausing

    void Awake()
    {
        DontDestroyOnLoad(gameObject); // Make sure this object persists across scenes
        UnityEngine.Debug.Log("MMElements Awake - DontDestroyOnLoad applied");
    }
    public void PlayGame()
    {
        UnityEngine.Debug.Log("PlayGame called");
        // Reset game state
        Time.timeScale = previousTimeScale;
        PauseMenu.isPaused = false;
        // Load next scene
        SceneManager.LoadScene(SceneManager.GetActiveScene().buildIndex + 1);
        UnityEngine.Debug.Log("Scene " + (SceneManager.GetActiveScene().buildIndex + 1) + " loaded");
    }
    public void QuitGame()
    {
        FindObjectOfType<SceneMg>().ShowExitPanel();
        FindObjectOfType<SceneMg>().onUserClickYesNo(1);
        FindObjectOfType<SceneMg>().onUserClickYesNo(0);

        // Application.Quit();
    }
}

And

using UnityEngine.SceneManagement;
using UnityEngine;
public class PauseMenu : MonoBehaviour
{
    public GameObject pauseMenu;
    public static bool isPaused =false;
    // public KeyCode pauseKey; // you can remove it
    private float previousTimeScale = 1f; // Store the previous time scale before pausing
    void Start()
    {
        pauseMenu.SetActive(false);
        previousTimeScale = Time.timeScale; // Initialize the previous time scale
        Debug.Log("PauseMenu Start - pauseMenu set to inactive");
    }
    void Update()
    {
        if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Escape))
        {
            Debug.Log("Escape key pressed");
            if (isPaused)
            {
                ResumeGame();
            }
            else
            {
                PauseGame();
            }
        }
    }
    public void PauseGame()
    {
        Debug.Log("PauseGame called");

        pauseMenu.SetActive(true);
        previousTimeScale = Time.timeScale; 

type here

// Store the previous time scale
       Time.timeScale = 0f;
        isPaused = true;
    }
    public void ResumeGame()
    {
        Debug.Log("ResumeGame called");

        pauseMenu.SetActive(false);
        Time.timeScale = previousTimeScale; 
        isPaused = false;
    }
    public void GoToMainMenu()
    {
        Debug.Log("GoToMainMenu called");
        Time.timeScale = 1f; //editing
       isPaused = false;   //editing
       SceneManager.LoadScene(0);
        Debug.Log("Main menu loaded");
    }
}

I tried using Blackbox AI and ChatGPT to understand each aspect and the underlying issue but no solution hence looking for assistance here.`