Actually, the Nega-Scott aspect also seems to be you jumping to conclusions. As Tom Dickinson already mentioned, the entirety of the 6th volume - the climax, and everything leading up to it - is substantially different from the events of the film, and the role Nega-Scott plays is not such an obvious one.

You said:

Instead of having him destroy all the bad aspects of himself and declare “I can date you now that I am a good person,” it’s a lot more interesting to have him reach genuine self-realization. It’s a lot more mature to be able to say, “Hey, turns out I’m not that bad a guy. I just need to stop over-compensating and start treating people as people instead of how they relate to me.”

While I don't intend to spoil you, the solution to the dilemma is not like what you proposed, and the book makes a point of saying that simply beating down your bad side in a metaphoric boss fight is NOT the way to go.

And the point is that the movie could have gone the same route, without succumbing to the cheap cliché you feared it would be.

That aside, I immensely enjoyed reading your article. I don't really have anything to say beyond that, since I generally agree with your views as well, both of the movie and the articles surrounding it.