>>Did you try in the init of your controller (or just at the very top) to use
>>
>>$scope.accountPeriods = [{}];
>>
>>And don't use (declare) that var accountPeriods at all in the service?
>
>same behavior...

When you selecting an environment you're going to another state? Is it a different page?

 var name = $rootScope.$state.current.name;
                    $rootScope.$state.go(name, {
                      environment: p.id
                    });
return false;

If so, the way I solve such problems is to use an extra object, e.g.

$scope.Accounts.accountPeriods = [{}];

and have $scope.Accounts = { accountPeriods: [{}]};

declared in the Init of the top object. And reference it through this extra object.