Note that assigning to certain "unassigned scalars" is legitimate, such as the one returned by substr. Unassigned scalars with set magic simply wouldn't be made read-only, of course.

But you know what else wouldn't be made read-only? "Unassigned scalars" from XS code. Making unassigned scalar *created by Perl* read-only would create inconsistencies with those created by XS code. This reduces the benefits of making any change.