defer also is used to recover from panics, which makes much more sense in a function end context. For example, when writing code that performs an operation wit

defer also is used to recover from panics, which makes much more sense in a function end context. For example, when writing code that performs an operation with the potential to panic, but that you want to convert to an error, something you can do is name the error return value and then modify it in the defer, after recovering from a panic, according to the cause of the panic. It's not obvious that that pattern would work well if defer could also execute on scope end - what does recover do then? Will it affect the following recovers? Also, if the function continues executing but you modified some variables, it makes it complicated to reason about what could be in those variables. Defer running at function end is much more easier to reason about: functions execute their standard control flow until a return or panic is hit, and then defers are executed, without returning to standard control flow.