DWS,
Sort of depends on what the control-data circuit wiring was shorted TO external to the ELT --for example like a 32 vdc bus bar or any power circuit or sneak circuit.
Speed of Sound,
... this would almost certainly fry the IC which would usually lead to an open circuit somewhere along the path to ground. A dead short of the battery via a damaged IC
is also likely to result in an open circuit condition. I'd also be surprised if there wasn't a fuse or diode to protect the battery itself from a short circuit condition.
I'm trying to think through the implications of these interesting posts, while remembering that there are two batteries involved in the above scenarios. [One feeding the bus,
the other within the ELT.]
A hypothetical situation is that a fault in the wiring causes the plane's battery to fry the ELT's IC, raising the temperature within the ELT.
In a related scenario the plane's battery might be able to feed current into the ELT's battery via the damaged IC.
Regards, Peter