Linking the mesh and location of objects with different materials in different scenes

Question

Is it is possible to keep the mesh and location linked between the spheres in the example shown below, but have different materials on the spheres?

I have tried several related examples here on Stack Exchange, although the mesh is the same and the material can be different, the position of the spheres are lost, and they can be moved independently of each other.

Does anyone know if it is possible to keep the mesh and location linked, but with different materials on the spheres? That is, any movement of the sphere in scene A should be mirrored in scene B.

The .blend file for this example is available at pasteall.org

The material is linked as object

Answer 1

No, I don't think you can, as far as I know.

You can link objects from two scenes or even files, their positions will be kept in sync.

You can also have materials applied to Object or Object Data, so two objects can share the same object data but have different materials.

You can't however move them independently. If you use U > Make Single User > Object, you will be able to change materials but they will move them independently.

One possible workaround is to use parenting. Create an empty object, for example, and link it between the two scenes so their positions are kept in sync. Then in each scene parent a differently colored sphere to the empty.

That way the empty will guarantee they move independently, but their visual appearance will differ.