No offense, but your first statement and your next two seem quite contradictory. First you outline why you use a case/screen protector because you work in harsh environments, and the phone gets dropped.
In the next two statements you said that the phone has been babied and not in contact with anything harsh. I'd suspect that something industrial may be getting into your pockets causing the damage you are seeing, even if you aren't conscious of how it could be getting scratched. Perhaps some kind of dust or debris from your product testing environments? Just guessing. Or perhaps the scratches you are seeing in your notch area are in the screen coating material (not the glass) as there is no way that a perfectly clean nylon zip could scratch a glass screen.
No offence taken at all as you were not to know the full background from some very brief posts and no they are not contradictory whatsoever, just a misunderstanding. I never 'baby' my iPhones, they are just used normally. I haven't owned the 12 very long and havne't used them in test environments since I have owned it. Due to COVID that sort of operation is on hold as its impossible to do without getting close to other people in the lab.
My phone has had a screen protector on since launch and the worst it has encountered is a pocket and the odd drop on a floor while in its protective case. The only exposed area was the notch and this has a 6-8mm long light scratch whereas the screen protector was completely clear. Its possible there was dust of something in my pocket as scratches don't appear out of thin air. Whether its the coating that is scratched is rather irrelevant to me as the coating is part of the screen anyway and the part that the user sees and touches.
I would say if screens are scratched with very little effort like this, then a screen protector is a very wise investment. Would you dispute that piece of advice?
