Angular ng-repeat inside directive is not rendering - angularjs

Question

I've asked this before, but I wasn't specific enough. I have a bit of a conundrum with ng-repeat inside a nested directive. I'll have to post all my code so you can see what i'm doing as it's easier than trying to explain.
In essence, my ng-repeat is not rendering contents if I use properties bound to the controller. However if I output the property contents to the screen using {{ ctl.myarray }} it reads just fine, proving that the property is accessible.
The problem is occurring inside a directive which dynamically loads contents through ajax and $compiles it. The contents of the ajax file contains html with a directive, and THAT directive has the ng-repeat which doesn't work.
Here goes:
Controller (main and first nested controller)
<!-- main controller -->
<div ng-controller="ReportController as rc" ng-cloak="">
<!-- controller for filters -->
<div class="report-filters" ng-controller="FilterController as fc">
<!-- directive that loads bootstrap popovers from a template -->
<rep-popover parent="fc" title="Add Filter" template="html/popovers/add_filter.html">
Add Filter
</rep-popover>
</div>
<!-- ../ rest of the page below ... -->
</div>
popover.directive.js (popover generator directive)
(function () {
'use strict';
angular.module(ng_module_name)
.directive('repPopover', popover);
popover.$inject = ['$http', '$compile'];
function popover($http, $compile) {
var directive = {
controller: controller,
controllerAs: 'pop',
link: link,
replace: true,
restrict: 'E',
scope: { // properties bound in html
parent: '=',
title: '#',
template: '#',
placement: '#',
container: '#'
}
};
return directive;
//////////////////
/** directive controller */
function controller($scope) {
var ctl = this;
ctl.parent = $scope.parent;
ctl.title = $scope.title;
ctl.template = $scope.template;
ctl.placement = $scope.placement;
ctl.close = close;
//////////////////
/** close the popover */
function close() {
var popover = $scope.element.children(":last-child");
popover.popover("hide");
}
}
/** DOM manipulation function */
function link(scope, element) {
scope.element = element;
if (!scope.template) {
alert("Error: popover requested, but no template provided!");
return;
}
// request template, and populate popover
$http.get(reports_data.root+'/'+scope.template).then(function (content) {
if (content && content.status == 200) {
var activator = element.children(":first-child");
var placement = scope.placement || "bottom";
var compiled_content = $compile(content.data)(scope);
// bootstrap popover
activator.popover({
title: scope.title,
content: compiled_content,
placement: placement,
html: true,
container: scope.container || false
});
}
});
}
}
}());
add_filter.html (popover template)
<!--- add filter -->
<div class="add-filter-popover">
<form>
<select rep-filter-select="" columns="parent.tracker.available" class="form-control filter-select">
<!-- THIS IS WHERE THE REPEAT BREAKS -->
<option ng-repeat="i in select.list">{{ i }}</option>
</select>
<!-- show before column is chosen -->
<div class="empty-spacing"></div>
<!-- ../ rest of template... -->
</form>
</div> <!--- ./add-filter-popover -->
filter.directive.js (the nested directive inside popover template)
(function () {
'use strict';
angular.module(ng_module_name)
.directive('repFilterSelect', filterSelect)
filterSelect.$inject = ['$compile'];
function filterSelect($compile) {
var directive = {
controller: controller,
controllerAs: 'select',
link: link,
replace: true,
restrict: 'A',
scope: {
columns: "="
}
};
return directive;
//////////////////
/** directive controller */
function controller($scope, $element) {
var ctl = this;
ctl.list = [1,2,3,4,5];
//////////////////
}
/** DOM manipulation function */
function link(scope, element) {
// manual compile as part of a popover
$compile(element.contents())(scope);
}
}
})();
Where you see my comment in add_filter, these options are not being populated. If I change that to <option ng-repeat="i in [1,2,3,4,5]"></option> then it works just fine.
Furthermore, if I output {{ select.list }} inside the select (and make the directive a div just for test purposes), the contents of select.list are correct.
Thanks to anyone willing to have a quick read :)