Good morning troops.
From my perspective the discussion is acedemic and fun to read, however the reality is quite simple.
There are two legal methods to fly an aircraft, VFR or IFR only two factors determine which rules you fly under "must " be complied with and those are being the holder of an instrument rating and current to legaly fly under the IFR rules.
If I were considering a pilot for employment and said pilot went into how he / she has bla, bla, bla hours of in cloud time logged I would know that that person would be quite fine as a first officer.
However I would not even consider that person for a PIC position due to the obvious fact that they are thought flying in cloud to be of any consequence as to skills.
There troops that is my slant on it.
By the way as soon as I enter cloud I feel comfortable and secure and the work load is way lower than scanning the whole damn sky looking for other aircraft, thus detracting me from the simple act of flying.
Chuck E.