Scandalous is a very emotive word to use - over generous might be a better choice. It was an official system introduced by the MOD, not some sort of con. Anyone who took up the offer should be deemed to have been fortunate - not in any way appear to be criminalized as a result.
Various ground ranks/trades, who are also seeing considerable experience leaving, often on compulsory redundancy, might consider the whole issue of paying FRIs to aircrew (in addition to receiving flying pay, or generous PA spine pay) to "continue doing what they love doing" scandalous....?
I guess like most things in life, it's all a matter of perspective.