If you leave aside the 'bad situations' you mention, well of course its relatively stress free to operate imc, but some of the skill and stress comes from avoiding getting oneself in those positions or having them creep up on you in the first place.. Just navigating and boring through stratus isnt so hard. Any imc rated pilot should be competent to get from a to b and shoot an ils to say 700ft agl assuming they are current, thats the scope of the rating and what is tested. Not sure a second person is of much more than moral support unless they can perform the duties of 'pilot not flying'.
Its more than a get you out of trouble thing, but also a license to learn and what to avoid.
Very glad I did it, if only for the confidence of dealing with inadvertent imc ( not that imc should be anything other than premeditated) and the extra nav and handling skills. On balance it has made me more cautious of weather, but more confident about dealing with it