You will need to write a loop to change the opacity in increments over time to get your fade. But there are two ways to actually change opacity value:
$scope.setWidgetProp('myObjectName', 'opacity', 0.5); //opacity values are 0-1
$scope.view.wdg['myObjectName'].opacity = 0.5;
Generally the setWidgetProp method is the most reliable at triggering a view refresh and actually showing the change you made. But you may get different results with 2D and 3D widgets.
I would share some code snippets of what you have so far if you want more detailed feedback.