pass models data from controller to the view joomla 3.1

How do I pass properly the models data to the view from controller in joomla 3.1. On start I initialize one of my sub controllers method to gather data on item which should fill up my form layout. Is accessed with the following url ?option=com_unis&task=unis.edit&layout=edit&id=1 than my controllers method looks like

public function edit() 
{
    $input = JFactory::getApplication()->input;     
    $model = $this->getModel ( 'item'); 
    $view = $this->getView('item', 'html');   
    $view->setModel($model);
    $view->setLayout('edit');

// Display the view
$view->display();

return $this;
}

than if I try to access the model in my view is returning null

Found it! But maybe is not the best workaround

in the view I init my model like

$model = $this->getModel('mymodel');
$data  = $model->my_method($args);

than associate to the layout with a public variable

$this->data = $data;

After all I found out the workaround. In the view I call my model as it follows

$model = $this->getModel('mymodel');
$data  = $model->my_method($args);

than I created a public variable which holds the layout data

$this->data = $data;