BDS, PokeMom, PokePop...
I'm a competitive player so this is from my point of view. I don't get why Nintendo doesn't just release the scans themselves? They drum up interest and hype in the prereleases and get people fired up. I personally will only go to prereleases if I feel there is enough good cards in a set that my odds of pull something are decent more than shooting for the 1 chase card. I understand they don't want to spoil "the surprise" but lets be honest most competitive players don't like the surprise and want to know a head of time. The younger and newer players that want to be surprised will simply not look on line. Sure you have a point by saying people will discuss it and ruin others fun but thats going to happen anyways due to spoilers from Japan and not necessarly from the early scans.
Honestly if I was Nintendo I would take advantage of this hype and do a better job of covering these new sets even if they don't want to release full set lists/pictures. Above and beyond this mirage with a site like The Top Cut. There is a huge demand for content like scans and matches and most other games (yugioh/magic) have realized this and used this content to promote their own sites instead of letting fan sites do all the work. I honestly think Pokemon would grow tremendously if the company would move forward and embrace this change instead of fight it.
Not exactly sure why this was addressed to me since up til now the sum total of my contribution to this thread has been to unlock it. But, since you ask...
I haven't really discussed the subject you are asking about with Pokemon, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't answer for them or try to present their side. All I can do is give my opinion, which may or may not have some worth.
I think Pokemon wants to give sneak peeks of the new sets. (side note: Pokemon. Not Nintendo. Nintendo is a related, but totally different company)
They have been releasing images of a number of the cards from the set ahead of time.
Balancing that, I think they also want a new set to be discovered by players opening up booster packs, not by looking at sterile images on a website.
I remember a good amount of excitement when it was realized that Sandstorm contained a number of cards that were brand new ones that we got before Japan. I think they'd like to recapture more of that kind of excitement, if they could.
Regarding the whole early scan release/PokeBeach thing, I have always had and continue to have the following view. It is my view and not necessarily that held by Pokemon, the PokeGym, or other members of Team Compendium.
I personally think that WPM did nothing wrong.
He sees his site as a news site. It publishes news about Pokemon. Someone gave him something that was newsworthy about Pokemon and he published it. 1st amendment, freedom of the press, and all that it entails.
On the other hand, whoever has been acting as a source for PokeBeach and supplying these scans early is almost certainly violating an NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement); Either their own that they signed themselves, or an NDA that their employer or family member signed and that they either morally or legally are bound to uphold. And THAT person is who I have a major problem with. As I'm sure you realize, the 5 owners of the PokeGym are each and every one of us PTOs for Pokemon and so have access to the new set before the Prereleases. We could easily scan and upload images of the new set as early as or earlier than the PokeBeach has been revealing them. But we are bound by our NDAs and we honor that agreement. So it has been galling to sit by and watch another website do what we are bound from doing because of the actions of this unknown person.
But that's just my opinion.