This was a cheap test i did last night to see how viable it would be. So far it seems setting up the scale to be linked to a control point doesnt seem to work too well in sfm but ocilation and linear stuff is pretty straight forward and works well. In the example posted it shows a single partcle doing a linear growth and then ocilating. The particle model will accept lights and shadows from other objects but it wont cast a shadow of its own so its only really useable when you wouldn't be able to see the shadow of the object itself. I'm not sure if there is an option to eventually get a particle shadow or not but at least this method could be used in some situations depending on the camera angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR7GHPurDsw