The specification and drawings present a new method, system, apparatus and software product for pilot scrambling using a scrambling code (e.g., pseudo-noise code such as a Gold code, a Kasami code, a Hadamard code, m-sequences, etc.) in communication systems, e.g., for wireless communications. The sector/cell specific scrambling codes are mapped to the multiple pilot symbols within, e.g., an SCH (synchronization channel) repetition period. This improves receiver performance on a sector edge and/or a cell edge in, e.g., tight-frequency re-use applications.