The view through my 3-9x40 scope can become nearly overtaken by glare as the sun sets if I am aiming in that direction. This occurs even when everything in the field of view is well below the skyline. The orange of the evening sky seems to take over the whole view. Is there a cure for this? A hood or different type of scope?

That's not something unusual for cheap scopes. You might take some heavy weight paper, spray paint it flat black and make a sun shade the extends 3-4 inches out and see if that helps. If it does, you might try to find real (metal) sun shade. It likely won't be available.

Better optics won't usually do it. Top end optics are much better, but nothing will solve all of it all of the time.

my nikon prostaff did thesame thing. caused me to be unable to get a shot at a good buck i could see with my binoculars. got rid of it and bought a swaro and no more glare

This scope is a Sightron S1. It has provided exceptional service for me - aside from the problem at hand - especially considering the $139 or so that I paid for it. I would buy another scope, but I don't know what the key factor is in choosing one that would not give this trouble. Surely, the number of Ben Franklins on the sales counter is correlated with, but not causative of, optical performance. Might I expect such problems to disappear at the Leupold VX-1, VX-2, or VX-3 level? Or is Swarovski level killindeer has necessary?

P.S. killindeer, how can you pay for a Swarovski and simply refer to it as a "swaro"?

Lots of things can contribute to glare or flair in a scopes.
I'd make sure the lenses were very clean first. Be very careful to clean them in a gentle way as they wear or scratch easily in most scopes.
It's possible the lenses are already damaged if they have been clean casually.
From what I've seen any name brand scope, like Bushnell, Burris, Leupold, etc. that features at least some multi coating should have very little of this problem. Really cheap scopes often not only lack much in the way of coatings, but they also have very little attention paid to stray light bouncing around in the scope.
For $200-$400, you should easily find one of the above brands that will have almost nothing in the way of that sort of problem. E

no u wldnt have to buy a swarovski to solve the problem. i guess it just depends on the scope. my old simmons scope didnt even have the flare issue. but that nikon was unacceptable. was useless in that area i was hunting

I've had several Nikons and they have all been extremely bad about this including the Monarchs I've had. IMO the poor glass quality is the biggest and really only complaint I have with Nikons.

Closing the objektive lens cap (i. e. Butler Creek) helps reducing glare, when looking into, at, or close to a light source...

I had this problem show up last year on two different scopes that both had a good history with me. I guess the angle at which I set up my new spot was the cause. A scope shade might have helped but a new VX-3 fixed it beautifully. The edge of the lenses are colored black specifically to reduce glare. I tested side by side under that condition and it was the difference between working and not working, or in other words, an easy shot and no serious chance of a shot. Other new scopes might work as well but I can certainly vouch for the Vx3 as it pertains to this very issue.

Fully multi coated lenses will definately help a lot. That's what the coatings do if absorb reflection. The more reflection absorbed the less glare. Also a scope with a decent amount of metal rim sticking out past the front lens will help too. I had a Sightron SII 4x32 and it had fully multi coated optics but still had a bit of glare. It didn't have much rim around front lens. That's why sunshades exist to help keep glare down I think.

SeeDepp, your description sounds to me like veiling flare. Here's an interesting article about lens flare (he's talking about cameras, but same effects and principles):
http://diglloyd.com/articles/UnderstandingOptics/understanding-flare.html

You might call Sightron and ask about veiling flare. See whether they sound like they understand the question and the issue. If they do, maybe they can tell you whether a sunshade is available, or what to do or choose within their product line that will help.

nuguy - FYI - all my scopes were fully multicoated.

Veiling flare (the haze from sun reflections) is mostly an internal blackening problem I suspect, as everything Nikon makes is at least multicoated. I remember noticing that Nikon Monarchs with full multicoat had a bad problem with veiling flare over about 12x, while their Buckmaster multicoat only lower line did not, even at 18x. Of course the Buckmasters have other problems. They appear to field stop them down considerably, giving great depth of field, but a terrible apparent field of view, resembling looking down a cardboard tube. The newer Prostaffs even seem to take care of this blackening issue, so it may be a problem they've beaten. My dad's rimfire target EFR controls flare very well.