If you don't have to use SCATTER MEMVAR and GATHER MEMVAR, I've used the following commands with great success:
COPY MEMO {memo field} TO {filename} AS 1252
APPEND MEMO {memo field} FROM {filename} AS 1252

Using the 1252 codepage seems to work well for our applications... no problems checking out the contents in either FP2.6 or VFP.

I checked... didn't see "AS" available in SCATTER MEMVER or GATHER MEMVAR, don't know if that is available there.