The problem with the scouts is imagine them to be like gunships in civ4, super high movement but can't capture cities, thats to prevent people from moving way into the backline and taking out a city that has 1 warrior or less for defense.
Would you like to lose a game because you moved your warrior to grab a hut and then somebodys scout on your border captures your capital the next turn?
And onedreamer just because its also a singleplayer issue doesn't mean it doesn't effect multiplayer just as much or even more because your in a game with evenly matched humans instead of braindead AI so every little advantage helps