< Is uniform scale enough or does it need separate scales in x/y/z ...
Seems Uniform is suffisant, Separate will be a refinement :)
but we have also a proverb "Qui peut le plus, peu le moins"
Who can more, can less :)
And you have that in the normal Scaling function :)

< would get progressively moved closer to the curve on every scaling, instead of it scaling "in place"
Object "snaped on a curve" is the more easy to understand for this sort of manipulations

All that was a suggestion wait if some people are also interested of that :)