Accessing $scope in AngularJS factory?

I am new to AngularJS and find it very interesting, but I am a bit unclear about the following situation.

app.factory('deleteFac', function($http){

var factory = {}; 

factory.edit = function(id){
  $http.get('?controller=store&action=getDetail&id=' + id).
	success(function(data, status){
        /** 
        got an error on the following 
        when i use return data; and i get data undefined 
        in the controller which i get it because its doing a ajax call
        you don't get data until the call first.
        **/
        $scope.detail = data;
      })
    }

return factory;
})

I am getting error when I assign to $scope and use return data, is there anyway I can assign the return data to the $scope?

You don't typically use $scope inside a factory, service or provider. Usually, you would return the promise (returned by $http) and then handle the promise in a controller (where you do have $scope).

factory.edit = function(id){
    return $http.get('?controller=store&action=getDetail&id=' + id);
}

Controller function:

$scope.edit = function(id) {

    deleteFac.edit(id).then(function(response) {
        $scope.something = response.model;
    });
}

I guess you meant this:

app.factory('deleteFac', function($http){
   
  var service = {}; 

   factory.edit = function(id, success, error){
        var promise = $http.get('?controller=store&action=getDetail&id=' + id);
        if(success)
           promise.success(success);
        if(error)
           promise.error(error);
   };

   return service;
});

Then in your controller you do:

function MyController($scope, deleteFac){
   deleteFac.edit($scope.id, function(data){
       //here you have access to your scope.
   });
}

The following trick is a very bad practice, but you can use it if you are in a hurry:

Exchange the $scope with: angular.element('[ng-controller=CtrlName]').scope()

Personally I would like to use scope from the factory, so, instead of moving all out I would pass the scope as parameter from the client which is calling to the factory.function().

Also I was having this same issue when trying to use $scope.watch(...) since we cannot use directly $scope from factories or services but I wanted to have this working in this way, so that is why I just updated my function to have scope as parameter and let the factory's client to send the $scope. So, this would be my solution:

var app = angular.module("myApp", []);

app.factory('MyFactory', function($http) {

      var factory = {};
      //This is only for my own issue I faced.
      factory.Images = {};

      factory.myFunction = function(id, scope) {
        //This is an example of how we would use scope inside a factory definition
        scope.details = "Initial Value";
        //In my case I was having this issue while using watch
        scope.$watch('details' , function(newValue, oldValue) {
          if(oldValue){
             scope.log = "Details was updated to : " +newValue;
            }
        });
        
        scope.details = "My Id is: "+id;
       };
        return factory;
});

//Controller: Factory's Client.
app.controller("MyController", ['$scope', 'MyFactory', function($scope, MyFactory) {
  
        MyFactory.myFunction(5, $scope);
}]);

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.2.23/angular.min.js"></script>
<div ng-app="myApp" ng-controller="MyController">
  <span>{{details}} </span>
  <hr>
  <p>{{log}} </p>
</div>

I hope this can help. Regards.

I think this is the cleanest solution:

Let me know if there is problem or improvement.

(function(){
  angular.controller('controllerName', controllerName);
  controllerName.$inject = ['$scope', factory];

  function controllerName($scope, factory){
    var vm = this;

    vm.data = factory.alertPopup();
  }

  angular.factory('factory', factory);
  factory.$inject = ['externalServices'];

  function factory(externalServices){
    return {
      returnData : returnData
    }

    function returnData(){
      return externalServices.whatever();
    }
  }
})();

.factory('POPUP', function($ionicLoading, $ionicPopup) {
  var self = this;
  // THIS BLOCK SCREEN ! for loading ! Be carefoull !! ( deprecated: assign this to a var for security)
  self.showLoading = function(title, message, scope){
  scope.loading = true;
  return $ionicLoading.show({ content: message, showBackdrop: false });
  };
  self.hideLoading = function(title, message, scope){
  scope.loading = false;
  return $ionicLoading.hide();
};

// NOT BLOCK SCREEN- SIMPLE ALERTS - Standards popups
self.showAlert = function(title, message, callback){
  var alertPopup = $ionicPopup.alert({ title: title, template: message });
  alertPopup.then(function(res) {
      console.log('callback popup');
      if (callback){ callback(); }
  });
};
 self.showConfirm = function(objectPopup, callback){
 if (objectPopup === undefined){ objectPopup = { title: 'test confirm    Popup', template: 'Message test Confirm POPUP' }; }
 var alertPopup = $ionicPopup.confirm(objectPopup);
 alertPopup.then(function(res) {
   if (res) { callback(true); }
    else { callback(false); }
 });
 };
   return self;
   }) 

I know this question is old, but this is what worked for me

app.factory('myFactory',function(){

	let toRet = {
		foo: foo
	}

	return toRet;

	function foo(){ // This function needs to use passed scope.
		let $scope = toRet.$scope;
		// Do stuff with $scope.
	}
});

app.controller('myController',function($scope,myFactory){

	myFactory.$scope = $scope;
	/*
		We could just pass $scope as a parameter to foo, but this is
		for cases where for whatever reason, you cannot do this.
	*/
	myFactory.foo();

});