Creating a new scope

[JD Cole]

How would one go about creating a new scope? Here's what I'm trying to do:

I would like to evaluate a statement within the current scope, however, 
I don't want the evaluation to change any variables outside the 
evaluation of the statement.(This sounds like a functional execution.) I 
am currently about creating an octave_user_function, and passing the 
necessary variables from the current scope into as the input parameter 
values. Am I on the right track?

BTW: This is in reference to some parallel capability testing I'm doing.

Thanks,

JD