document.ontouchmove and scrolling on iOS 5

Update Per Alvaro's comment, this solution may no longer work as of iOS 11.3.

You should be able to allow scrolling by selecting whether or not preventDefault is called. E.g.,

document.ontouchmove = function(e) {
    var target = e.currentTarget;
    while(target) {
        if(checkIfElementShouldScroll(target))
            return;
        target = target.parentNode;
    }

    e.preventDefault();
};

Alternatively, this may work by preventing the event from reaching the document level.

elementYouWantToScroll.ontouchmove = function(e) {
    e.stopPropagation();
};

Edit For anyone reading later, the alternate answer does work and is way easier.

The only issue with Brian Nickel's answer is that (as user1012566 mentioned) stopPropagation doesn't prevent bubbling when you hit your scrollable's boundaries. You can prevent this with the following:

elem.addEventListener('touchstart', function(event){
    this.allowUp = (this.scrollTop > 0);
    this.allowDown = (this.scrollTop < this.scrollHeight - this.clientHeight);
    this.prevTop = null; 
    this.prevBot = null;
    this.lastY = event.pageY;
});

elem.addEventListener('touchmove', function(event){
    var up = (event.pageY > this.lastY), 
        down = !up;

    this.lastY = event.pageY;

    if ((up && this.allowUp) || (down && this.allowDown)) 
        event.stopPropagation();
    else 
        event.preventDefault();
});

ScrollFix seems to be perfect solution. I tested it and it works like a charm!

https://github.com/joelambert/ScrollFix

/**
 * ScrollFix v0.1
 * http://www.joelambert.co.uk
 *
 * Copyright 2011, Joe Lambert.
 * Free to use under the MIT license.
 * http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php
 */

var ScrollFix = function(elem) {
    // Variables to track inputs
    var startY, startTopScroll;

    elem = elem || document.querySelector(elem);

    // If there is no element, then do nothing  
    if(!elem)
        return;

    // Handle the start of interactions
    elem.addEventListener('touchstart', function(event){
        startY = event.touches[0].pageY;
        startTopScroll = elem.scrollTop;

        if(startTopScroll <= 0)
            elem.scrollTop = 1;

        if(startTopScroll + elem.offsetHeight >= elem.scrollHeight)
            elem.scrollTop = elem.scrollHeight - elem.offsetHeight - 1;
    }, false);
};