Duplicate Movie Clip

Hi,

Hopefully this is an easy one but I cant figure it out.

I have a movie clip that is being duplicated with _droptarget code.

root.mc_scrolling_elements.mc_element_shape_0.duplicateMovieClip("mc_element_shape_0" + _root.mc_scrolling_elements.i);
_root.mc_scrolling_elements.i ++;

i is set to 0 in the _root of mc_scrolling_elements;

I then have a selectedElement variable in the _root which stores the clicked elements instance name.

I want to set the selectedElement value to any newly created(duplicated) movie clip but I have no idea how I would pass (mc_element_shape_0_" + _root.mc_scrolling_elements.i) to _root.selectedElement.

Please help.