Ok, here is an opinion coming from my experience… with high end photography lenses..
If you are 65+ years old, there are many “buy it and use till can no longer shoot” scopes.
However, if you are a younger guy, expect to see massive improvements in scope optics over the next 20+ years - especially in the area of digital optics.
I know from personal experience that a $1,000 lens from the 1990s is not up to the performance of a $1,000 lens from the 2010s...
Lens designs, manufacturing improvements, tolerences, materials, lens coatings are all continuously improving through the years.
Also, like has been said often, the point of diminishing returns applies. The difference in glass quality between a current $200 scope vs. a $1,000 scope is going to be far more noticeable than say the difference in glass quality between a $1,000 scope and a $2,200 scope.
I can only imagine the amount of information and resolution that a digital scope of the future will provide 25 years from now… and likely in a much smaller form factor than the huge “telescopes“ that we mount on our rifles today.
-Ed