For the life of me I cant seem to figure out why the style property is not getting updated. In my larger application it seems to work fine. http://jsfiddle.net/ganarajpr/C2hRa/4/ Here is a fiddle which shows the issue I am currently facing. You will notice that the width and height are getting updated in the div when you change the input. But the style itself doesnt seem to be updating. Anyone can tell me what I am doing wrong here? I have tried all the following scenarios using $scope.$apply.. - Throws an error stating $apply already in progress.. $rootScope.$apply - same as above. Setting another variable in a service which is $watched in the other controller. - no change seen. It would be really cool if someone can get me an answer to this. Also would be really happy if you can tell me why exactly it is not getting updated.