Need help with an AngularJS question relating to scope binding and click events. I want to add one value on the first click and another value on the second click, but it's only returning an empty array and filling the first value again. Why is that happening?

scope.dbclickalert = function (scope, $watch) {
    var getCheckInDate = this.cellData.date;
    var formatcheckindate = new Date(getCheckInDate);
    var checkingdates = [];
    var curr_datecell = formatcheckindate.getDate();
    var padded_day = (curr_datecell < 10) ? '0' + curr_datecell : curr_datecell;
    var curr_monthcell = formatcheckindate.getMonth() + 1;
    var padded_month = (curr_monthcell < 10) ? '0' + curr_monthcell : curr_monthcell;
    var curr_yearcell = formatcheckindate.getFullYear();
    var date_stringcell =  + padded_month + "/" + padded_day + "/" + curr_yearcell;
    var checkindatestrg = "checkindate";
    console.log(checkingdates.length);
    if (checkingdates.length < 2) {
        alert("element exists in array");
        checkingdates.push('checkoutdate');
        checkingdates.push(date_stringcell);
        console.log(checkingdates + checkingdates.length);
    } else {
        checkingdates.push('checkindate');
        checkingdates.push(date_stringcell);
    }
    var setCheckInDate = el.hasClass('checkInDate');
    if (checkingdates === true) {
        alert('You have already set your check In Date');
    } else {
        el.addClass('checkInDate');
        $('#checkoutbar').addClass('datePickerchecout');
    }
    $(".date-cell").each(function removeclasses() {
        $(this).removeClass('true');
    });
    return getCheckInDate;
};

When I declare this outside of the function, I get an undefined error:

scope.checkingdates = [];
      scope.dbclickalert = function(scope, $watch){
         var getCheckInDate = this.cellData.date;
         var formatcheckindate = new Date(getCheckInDate);
         var checkingdates = scope.checkingdates;
         var curr_datecell = formatcheckindate.getDate();
         var padded_day = (curr_datecell < 10) ? '0'+curr_datecell : curr_datecell;
         var curr_monthcell = formatcheckindate.getMonth() + 1;
         var padded_month = (curr_monthcell < 10) ? '0'+curr_monthcell : curr_monthcell;
         var curr_yearcell = formatcheckindate.getFullYear();
         var date_stringcell = + padded_month + "/" + padded_day + "/" + curr_yearcell;
         var checkindatestrg = "checkindate";
         console.log(checkingdates.length);
           if (checkingdates.length < 2){
              alert("element exists in array");
              checkingdates.push('checkoutdate');
              checkingdates.push(date_stringcell);
              console.log(checkingdates+checkingdates.length);
          }else{
              checkingdates.push('checkindate');
              checkingdates.push(date_stringcell);
          }
         var setCheckInDate = el.hasClass('checkInDate');
          if (checkingdates === true){
              alert('You have already set your check In Date');
          } else{
              el.addClass('checkInDate');
              $('#checkoutbar').addClass('datePickerchecout');
          }
             $(".date-cell").each(function removeclasses() {
                $(this).removeClass('true');
             });
              return getCheckInDate;
      };

In the third version, the same data ("the date") is returned again if the same div has been clicked, but not if a second div with the same ng-click="dbclickalert()" is clicked. Why?

link: function(scope, el, attributes, dateSheetCtrl, $watch) {
          scope.checkingdatesarry = [];
  scope.dbclickalert = function(){
                 var getCheckInDate = this.cellData.date;
                 var formatcheckindate = new Date(getCheckInDate);
                 var checkingdates = scope.checkingdates;
                 var curr_datecell = formatcheckindate.getDate();
                 var padded_day = (curr_datecell < 10) ? '0'+curr_datecell : curr_datecell;
                 var curr_monthcell = formatcheckindate.getMonth() + 1;
                 var padded_month = (curr_monthcell < 10) ? '0'+curr_monthcell : curr_monthcell;
                 var curr_yearcell = formatcheckindate.getFullYear();
                 var date_stringcell = + padded_month + "/" + padded_day + "/" + curr_yearcell;
                 var checkindatestrg = "checkindate";
                 var checkoutdatestrg = "checkoutdate";


                if( $.inArray('checkindate', scope.checkingdates) !== -1 )  {
                     scope.checkingdatesarry.push(checkoutdatestrg);
                      scope.checkingdatesarry.push(date_stringcell);
                      console.log(scope.checkingdatesarry + scope.checkingdatesarry.length);


                }
                else{
                scope.checkingdatesarry.push(checkindatestrg);
                      scope.checkingdatesarry.push(date_stringcell);
                      console.log(scope.checkingdatesarry + scope.checkingdatesarry.length);


                  }


                 var setCheckInDate = el.hasClass('checkInDate');
                  if (scope.checkingdates === true){
                      alert('You have already set your check In Date');
                  } else{
                      el.addClass('checkInDate');
                      $('#checkoutbar').addClass('datePickerchecout');
                  }
                     $(".date-cell").each(function removeclasses() {
                        $(this).removeClass('true');
                     });
                     return  scope.checkingdatesarry;
  };

For those interested, the solution was to move the array out of the directive and into a service since the divs were being created with an AngularJS directive, resulting in multiple arrays instead of one global array.