Angularjs Directive finding element inside ngIf - angularjs

Question

I have created a angularjs directive that are supposed to display an address.
$(elem).find('button').length
now return the correct value but it have been called a hack and is there a better way to do it. I understand that ngIf creates a child scope and the button element isn't available when my link code runs if I don't wrap it in $timeout.
So what is the pretty way to access the element inside my ngIf without the $timeout hack?
My Directive
angular.module('directives')
.directive('addresss', ['$timeout', function ($timeout) {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
scope: {
address: '='
},
templateUrl: 'template........ ',
link: function(scope,elem,attr){
$timeout(function(){
console.log($(elem).find('button').length);
})
}
};
}]);
Template for address directive
<div class="spacer">
<h1>Address</h1>
<div>
<strong>{{address.name}}</strong>
</div>
<div ng-if="address.name">
<button class="btn-link">Delete</button>
</div>
</div>

Answer 1

if all you want to bind a click event you could just put a ng-click in the button:
JS:
app.directive('address', [function () {
return {
restrict: 'AE',
scope: {
address: '='
},
templateUrl: 'template.html ',
link: function(scope,elem,attr){
scope.myClickHandler = function() {
console.log('button clicked');
});
}
};
Template:
<div class="spacer">
<h1>Address</h1>
<div>
<strong>{{address.name}}</strong>
</div>
<div ng-if="address.name">
<button ng-click="myClickHandler()" class="btn-link">Delete</button>
</div>
</div>

Answer 2

Try this (if I get well your question)
html
<div data-ng-controller="MainController">
<div data-my-dir address="address"></div>
</div>
js
angular.module('myApp', [])
.controller('MainController',function($scope) {
$scope.address = {
name : 'myname'
};
})
.directive("myDir", function () {
return {
scope:{
address: '=',
},
template:'<button class="btn-link" ng-if="address.name">Delete</button>',
link: function (scope, elem) {
console.log(scope.address.name);
}
}
});