I've used a scope for many useful things.
I wanted to evaluate the precision of HDD read/write heads for production, and ability to reject adjacent track signals especially if the servo moved off track. So I used a triangle generator to inject an error signal into the servo position error loop and used that for the X axis in XY mode and observed the ratio of Read signal modulation and crosstalk from adjacent tracks using extreme +/- % track offsets.
This same method I used in early days to get a linear graph of a high Q BPF and notch filter.
In some most cases analog scopes had a Z axis for modulation of the trace intensity and if biased correctly could be used to display video images with a vertical and horizontal sweep sawtooth to control X & Y while the video sync tip would blank the retrace just like a TV.
WIth a spectrum analyzer you can see the modulation in zero sweep mode, but if you put the video out into a scope , you can see it again and hear it with vertical channel Output on the back into high impedance headphones.
When I was doing drop tests with production 5.25" HDD's in packing material, I used accelerometers but uncertain of its calibration so I used storage mode and used the -1g vertical drop to calibrate the output on DC couple mode somI could record the DUT shock in the pack in +g's. After confirming what I expected,,I then discovered a convenient formulas for predicting 'g' level .
g shock level = drop height / stop height. = deacceleration / acceleration ratio in g's.
assuming a linear initial response.
So 1m drop into 1cm stop =100 g