No, return values are not stored by reference. If you change the style topand leftelement, it will not affect your saved values.
Primitive types in javascript are not passed by reference.
var a = "a";
var b = a;
a = "c";
alert(b);
alert(a);
or
var a = 1;
var b = a;
a = 3;
alert(b);
alert(a);
Objects are passed by reference:
var a = {one:"one"};
var b = a;
a.one = "three";
alert(b.one);
alert(a.one);
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