Call storyboard scene programmatically (without needing segue)?

Yes you can. Do something like this to get access to the VC, then just Modal Push it:

UIStoryboard *storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"MainStoryboard_iPhone" bundle:nil];MyNewViewController *myVC = (MyNewViewController *)[storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"myViewCont"];

Note: the method presentModalViewController:animated is deprecated in iOS 6.

The new code should read:

NSString * storyboardName = @"MainStoryboard_iPhone";NSString * viewControllerID = @"ViewID";UIStoryboard * storyboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:storyboardName bundle:nil];MyViewController * controller = (MyViewController *)[storyboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:viewControllerID];[self presentViewController:controller animated:YES completion:nil];

In the storyboard give your view controller an identifier (under the Attributes Inspector) then use the following code to bring that view forward.

UIStoryboard *mainStoryboard = [UIStoryboard storyboardWithName:@"STORYBOARDNAME" bundle:nil];UIViewController *vc = [mainStoryboard instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier:@"VIEWCONTROLLERIDENTIFIER"];[self presentModalViewController:vc animated:YES];