Answer by nelsonomuto for AngularJS : Prevent error $digest already in progress when calling $scope.$apply()

I would advise you to use a custom event rather than triggering a digest cycle.

I've come to find that broadcasting custom events and registering listeners for this events is a good solution for triggering an action you wish to occur whether or not you are in a digest cycle.

By creating a custom event you are also being more efficient with your code because you are only triggering listeners subscribed to said event and NOT triggering all watches bound to the scope as you would if you invoked scope.$apply.

$scope.$on('customEventName', function (optionalCustomEventArguments) {
   //TODO: Respond to event
});


$scope.$broadcast('customEventName', optionalCustomEventArguments);