• Start Blender with a new scene.
• Delete everything from it.
• File>Append, navigate to your old scene. Click on it, then you will have a choice between Objects, Lights, etc. Click Objects (I hope this is exactly how the category is named, anyway, it`s sth about items in your scene;), then you will be presented with the list of the contents of your old file. Hit a key to select all and confirm your decision. Then you will have everything from your old scene in a
  new file, except the settings:)

Since there`s no ctrl c - ctrl v ability to paste from outside the current Blender window (even from another B win), this is also the only way I know for moving objects from one scene to another when creating new projects from old stuff.