Dynamically changing backView for back button within a nav-bar

Is it possible to easily change the state to which the back-button references? I am using the side-menu template, so I cannot easily change the back-button’s functionality dynamically by simply editing the ion-nav-back-button in the parent view.

I am considering editing $rootScope.$viewHistory.backView within specific controllers to accomplish this, but I am unsure of the correct way to do this.

Has anyone dealt with this before?