Digital BW, The Print

I keep seeing suggestions that black and white negatives be scanned 
as color transparencies. However, when this is done the negative 
appears as a negative on the monitor and it's hard to know what 
adjustments to make when you can only see the image as a negative. My 
question: if I do the overview and prescan as a negative (so that the 
image appears as a positive on the monitor while I'm making 
adjustments), and then switch to color transparency mode before the 
final scan, will I obtain the advantages of scanning as a color 
transparency or to obtain those advantages do I need to be in 
transparency mode throughout the scanning process (overview, prescan, 
and scan)?