On what do you base your assumption when you say nobody would recommend Scala as a replacement for Java? Scala has actually taken great pains to maintain seemless Java interop for this very reason.
It IS an improvement on/replacement for Java in most situations.
That's not what I said. I said that no one would say that Scala can replace Java in all circumstances. Opinions vary greatly on what percentage the appropriate circumstances are (I think Scala is rarely a good replacement and never given the alternatives, while others, like you, say it's a good replacement in most circumstances - but not all).
In short, no one (who knows the software development landscape well, that is) can say Scala (or some other JVM languages) makes Java redundant.
I strongly contest that assertion. I'd say an honest variation would be the dream of scala is an improvement.
Maybe when some of these new fancy tools like Graal become more polished and ready the dream that was scala can start to happen vs reality you get when using it. I'd be happy to see that happen.
It IS an improvement on/replacement for Java in most situations.