Digital BW, The Print

I tried to find a group that is focused on film scanning, but 
couldn't find one; hope this isn't too far off topic for this group.

Over the past two year, I have been scanning 35mm negative film (both 
color and B&W) using a Canon 2710 film scanner. I notice that I spend 
a tremendous amount of time retouching film scratches on over half of 
the images that I have scanned. These are very fine scratches on the 
film base, that would typically not be visible in an enlargement made 
in an enlarger, but which are very visible when scanned and enlarged 
in Photoshop.

My question is: is there something inherent in film scanners that 
magnifies film scratches? I have seen the dust and scratch removal 
software (e.g. Nikon's Ice software) touted in scanner 
advertisements, but assumed these would be necessary only for old, 
mis-handled, damaged film. Is this scratch magnification an attribute 
of film scanning that we just don't talk about in public, or is it 
just me?

Comments?

Thanks, Ben Tyndall.