A hydrogel material for use as a scaffold to support accelerated healing of tissue as well as a drug delivery depot or reservoir includes an amphiphilic multi-arm branched polymer (e.g., star-shaped amphiphilic block copolymer) having a plurality of arms connected at one or more branch points, wherein at least one of the arms comprises a hydrophilic segment and a hydrophobic segment. A hydrophobic drug is mixed with an aqueous-based hydrogel formed from the amphiphilic multi-arm polymer. The use of block copolymers for self-assembly into multi-arm branched polymers creates an injectable hydrogel scaffold that effectively dissolves and retains hydrophobic molecules in the site of application. The combination of injectability, robust mechanical stability, and ability to dissolve and deliver hydrophobic drugs from these amphiphilic multi-arm branched polymer scaffolds enables novel uses of hydrophobic drugs in tissue repair applications.