  It is shown that elastic resonance scattering of light by a finite-size
obstacle with weak dissipation is analogous to quantum scattering by a
potential with quasi-discrete levels and exhibits Fano resonances. Localized
plasmons (polaritons), exited in the obstacle by the incident light, are
equivalent to the quasi-discrete levels, while the radiative decay of these
excitations plays exactly the same role as tunnelling from the quasi-discrete
levels for the quantum problem. Mie scattering of light by a spherical particle
and an exactly solvable discrete model with nonlocal coupling simulating wave
scattering in systems with reduced spatial dimensionality are discussed as
examples.
