Yes. For me it's one of the best courses I've ever done - I have a pile of notes here I need to knuckle down and study towards my full CBM IR, but for now, my IR(R) is fantastically useful for all the reasons said above.
However, it's only useful because I use it. If I didn't maintain currency in instrument flying, it would be of no real value in an emergency - and I have used it both planned, and unplanned. But the second I only got away with because I'd been practicing.
I've used it abroad also. No, you're not supposed to - but when stuff was going mildly aft-a-gley, the ability to say "I have a problem, could I take vectors to the ILS" was priceless, and ultimately caused nobody any trouble. The alternative - stooging around at low level to a diversion I'm sure I'd have succeeded in, but was a lot less appealling.
G