Too bad about the Australian print. I understand his reasoning though.
I see poita didn’t address this. Poita said in the past that he has had the opportunity to view the print on several occasions and can view it in the future! IMO that makes it hugely valuable for the fact that it provides a reference to grade the faded prints to.
With the TN1 scan they didn’t know how it should look because they didn’t have an opportunity to see an un-faded print. The obvious example of course being should Hoth be blue, or white?
Personally I agree it would be great if there was an avenue to getting it scanned however it still serves a really valuable service to the preservation of this film IMO.