Yep, Staying out is by far the best option. But as before said unforecast weather happens and you have to deal with what's there.
If I can remember my Robert Buck, plan your flights towards improving weather, especially if your departure is marginal.
The important part is keeping track of how the weather is developing and what local factors are at play. As long as you are in weather you are comfortable in, there's no need to go into something you'd rather not fly in -- that's during daylight. You can turn around to that good patch you had been flying in.
Surprises can still happen, you can fly into a cloud at night and need to know what you will do about it. Wings level, half-bar down on the horizon, 200 rpm off, Center C-GDVZ descending to 4500 (MEA + 1000') -- actually I should have asked first, but in the actual case there was nobody else on the airway at my level and my reflex to get VFR ASAP got ahead of asking ATC (Aviate, Navigate, Communicate). I was not going below MEA and would have declared myself IMC, got a clearance and turned around.
IMC in winter with no OAT and a rusty IR is not a place to spend much time in.
As before said, you can kill yourself scud running or you can kill youself losing control in IMC -- no guarantees. Me, I'd talk to ATC, declare a Mayday if I have to and hope I don't get ice -- a nice field under me or a dodgy vacuum pump could change my mind.