Refresh overlaid plots without "hold on/hold off" in each loop iteration

I have a script with multiple figures that are updated in a for loop using their figure and axes handles. One of the figures is a pair of scatterplots overlaid on each other. I need both these concurrent scatterplots cleared at the beginning of each iteration, before updating with the new data for both of them. When using the "hold on" command to overlay the scatterplots on a single figure, I am unable to clear the second one for the next loop iteration using the "set" command. Here's a snippet of my code:

for i = 1 to N
    
    % Figure 1 (with overlaid scatterplots)
    if ~(exist(fig1))
        fig1 = figure;
        f1 = subplot(2,1,1,'Parent',fig1); 
        %% Overlay 2 scatterplots in this subplot %%
        sc1 = scatter(x1,y1,'b','Parent',f1);
        hold on;
        scatter(x2,y2,'r','Parent',f1);      
        % Other subplots %
    else
        figure(fig1)
        % Update new info for both scatterplots and overlay them in the first subplot
        set(sc1,'XData',x1,'YData',y1,'CData',repmat(sc1.CData(1,:)),'Parent',f1);
        hold on;
        scatter(x2,y2,'r','Parent',f1);
        % Other subplots %        
    end
    
    % Plot some other figure
    if ~(exist(fig2))
        fig2 = figure;
        ax = axes('Parent',fig1);
        % Plot Figure 2
    else
        figure(fig2)
        % Figure 2 plots and legends using ax
    end
    
end

The problem is, the second scatterplot does not get cleared in the next loop iteration when set(sc1,...) is called. I tried the cla(f1,'reset') command, but that deletes all the XData, YData variables, which I need to exist in order to update.

I think the "hold on" is creating the persistence issue, but adding "hold off" after the second scatter just clears the entire subfigure including axes.

Is there some other way to accomplish the goal of overlaid scatterplots refreshed in each loop?

Answer 1

[Image Analyst]

To clear the second set of markers, get a handle to them and call delete

sc2 = scatter(x2,y2,'r','Parent',f1);     % Create markers
delete(sc2); % Call this to delete them when you want them to disappear.

[Aswathylakshmi]

That worked, thank you!

Just to note, I had to add "drawnow" to make the second plot visible before the loop ends if I do the explicit delete. No idea why it's not needed for the other subplots which are visible at every iteration.