Wideband scanning of a light beam through the use of magnetostatic waves has been accomplished for the first time. Specifically, a guided‐light beam at a wavelength of 1.317 &mgr;m in an yttrium iron garnet‐gadolinium gallium garnet waveguide was Bragg diffracted by magnetostatic forward volume waves (MSFVWs) operating at a frequency range of 2–7 GHz. Wideband scanning of the light beam was accomplished simply by changing the frequency of the MSFVW continuously from center frequencies of 2.5 and 6.0 GHz while keeping the dc magnetic field fixed or by continuously tuning the dc magnetic field while keeping the frequency of the MSFVW fixed at the center frequencies. A large number of resolvable scan spot positions were obtained in both cases. The resulting wideband magneto‐optic Bragg cell or light beam scanner was also used to perform spectral analysis of wideband rf signals at a center frequency of 3.2 GHz. Potential advantages of the magneto‐optic Bragg cell and scanner over the existing acousto‐optic counterparts also identified.