Normally when list context is needed you might say (my $s)=func_returning_list();, with the my on the inside

my ($s) causes list context too.

Note that you would not say my ($x,$y) as that is actually a syntax error.

That works fine here on perl 5.10.0 and on any earlier perl I can remember

$ perl -Mstrict -cwe 'my ($x,$y)'
-e syntax OK
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