When I regularly travelled by VS across the Atlantic, I used to turn up early and always asked for an exit row seat and was never refused, particularly as I was obviously capable of assisting in an emergency.
To charge for the seats for some and not for others is a nonsense. Presumably anyone not capable of assisting would be refused but in the rush to find any and every revenue stream possible, the airlines are creating a
PR nightmare for themselves - especially if they fly with those seats either empty or occupied by late arrivals.
Perhaps what they should do is allocate them to regular economy customers as a sort of loyalty bonus. Seats then not taken could be offered at a premium or, on a full flight where no one elected to pay, to the first to check in.