However, in almost all cases a hash based solution is done is such away it has all the disadvantages of not using strict, and none of the advantages.

I disagree. Most beginner's uses of soft references are along the lines of

while (<>) {
    while (/([a-z]+)/g) {
        my $word = $1;
        $$word++;
    }
}
print "I've seen the word 'compiler'\n" if $compiler;
# similar checks for a few other variables here
[download]

If you do that with a hash instead, you have a very clear benefit: you don't run into the risk of accidentally changing any our-scoped scalars in the current package.