This is mostly it.
Let's be clear, first, on the definitino of 'scrath' and 'scuff.'
THIS is a scratch. It is caused by something actually creating a gash in the plastic. That is bad.
A 'scuff' on the other hand, is the plastic equivilant of brushed metal. As
you can see, some people have even done that to their older iPods on purpose. Many Macs have been designed with brushed metal as part of their frame. It looks nice, and scuffed plastic is pretty similar, in my opinion. (And to be clear, if you consider that photo "100% scuffed" then my iPhone is only "15% scuffed." It's nowhere CLOSE to looking like that, I offer it only as an example. Why? Because the scuffing on my phone is impossible to photograph! It's subtle, so please don't think it looks exactly like brushed metal.)
You phone WILL get scuffed with normal usage. Some people freak out over this, but like brushed metal, I think it looks quite nice. The differnce between this and scratching is:
1) It is uniform. It's more of a surface texture than a single flaw.
2) It is shallow. You can't feel it with your finger like you would an actual scratch.
3) It's not obvious. It's generally only seen in certain light at certain angles. It's there, but not always viewable.
So just to be clear, a caseless phone will scuff, but I think that's fine. I've gone caseless since launch day of the 3G (black) and I think it still looks great. It does NOT look brand new, I couldn't fool anyone there. But I do think it looks great and would never put a case on it.
