In this study, we investigate reference signal (RS) transmission schemes that aim to efficiently support coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission by providing improved channel estimation accuracy so that transmission parameters can be appropriately chosen on a cellular network. First, we investigate typical scenarios for transmission parameter selection with the widely used CoMP transmission and precoding schemes aligned with those considered for Long Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced systems. Second, we investigate an RS transmission scheme that can provide accurate channel estimation even with severe inter-cell interference. Finally, we verify the performance benefit of the investigated scheme by a multi-cell link level evaluation. The results obtained indicate: 1) the investigated scheme improves block error rate performance compared to conventional schemes for fixed modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) allocation with a better precoding control accuracy on the LTE-Advanced system downlink and 2) the investigated scheme provides a throughput performance gain compared to conventional schemes for adaptive MCS allocation and coordinated beamforming.