This morning I turned ugly.scala into better.scala - still looking for a best.scala though

better.scala

val optContacts = person.expand[BasicDBList]("contacts.pending")
for {
      contacts <- optContacts;
      contact <- contacts
      if contact.isInstanceOf[DBObject]
      pendingContact = contact.asInstanceOf[DBObject]
      if pendingContact.expand[String]("contactId").get == contactId
    } {
      // Do stuff on contact and update mongo
    }

ugly.scala

person.expand[BasicDBList]("contacts.pending") map { contacts => 
  contacts map { contact =>
    contact match {
      case pendingContact:DBObject => {
        if (pendingContact.expand[String]("contactId").get == contactId) {
          // Do stuff on contact and update mongo
        }
      }
      case _ =>
    }
  }
}