One solution is just to explicitly define the function handle 'fh' and call it before plotting (no need for set(...) or stuff like that)
clear all;
close all;
clc;
% data
x = linspace(0,3,100);
f = sin(x);
% plot 1
figure;
plot(x,x);
% plot 2
figure;
plot(x,3*f);
% plot 3
fh = figure;
for i=1:0.1:5
figure(fh);
scatter(x,f);
hold on;
plot(x,i*f);
hold off;
axis([0,3,0,5]);
drawnow;
end
For a smoother animation, the axis has been set constant for all plots in the for loop.