Hi John,
Back in the day, we decided that scattering in purely sequential systems would be supported, but not drawn on layouts because only very small angle scattering works in sequential mode.
If you want things like RMS spot size, MTF etc to work, the scattering MUST be small: if it’s not, use non-sequential where scattering support is unrestricted.
We didn’t draw the scattering in sequential mode because, if the scatter is big enough to be seen on the layout then it shouldn’t be used. It’s best reserved for things like Geometric Image Analysis.
Also, in hybrid NS mode, rays can scatter but not split. Because the ray ultimately makes its way back into the sequential ray-tracer, we have to conserve the number of rays traced. Imagine using an REAY operand with a ray that splits into 5 separate rays, with none of them being the specular ray. Which one would REAY pick up?
Bottom line: use scattering in sequential mode only if it is low angle, and you are using features like GIA, spot size and Geometric MTF. For everything else, use NS.
Note these decisions were made ~15 years ago and can be changed if there’s a compelling reason, but that’s why the code is the way it is right now.