It was not a bad match with both goalkeepers in good enough form to ensure clean sheets for both defences.
Cheltenham will at least be pleased to have halted a run of nine defeats from their last ten games by securing their first draw of the season in any competition.
Scunthorpe, meanwhile, whose manager Brian Laws departed for Sheffield Wednesday in midweek, will be confident of winning the replay on Tuesday week against a side 20 places below them in the Coca-Cola League One table.
Managerial duties for this game were handled by assistant boss Nigel Adkins with support from senior player Ian Baraclough, who led by example for the Iron in the centre of midfield.
But it was the home side who edged the first half with John Ward's men setting aside their poor league form and taking the game to their visitors from the early stages.
Defender Shane Duff placed a header just wide from a Grant McCann cross but it was the provider of that chance, Cheltenham's Northern Ireland international and widely regarded as their best player, who came closest to scoring with two good chances at either end of the half.
Scunthorpe goalkeeper Joe Murphy got down to hold a swerving McCann free-kick and it was Murphy again who denied the Cheltenham midfielder two minutes before the break, saving at full-stretch after McCann had burst through the middle and let go a 30-yarder.
In between those chances, Cheltenham goalkeeper Shane Higgs got down to parry a drive from Scunthorpe's joint caretaker-manager Ian Baraclough and striker Andy Keogh lifted a shot high from the edge of the box.
The second half continued in the same vein of quick paced open football without the decisive touch in front of goal that would have really brought the game to life.
Higgs made a fine reflex save from a close-range Keogh header midway through the second half - the best scoring chance of the match - but Cheltenham kept driving forward and almost sneaked it five minutes from time when defender Gavin Caines reacted quickest to a scramble in the box but poked his shot a yard wide.