JS is not my first choice for many things but I still have to work with it often enough to know that most of your complaints about the language haven’t been a problem for years. It’s improved a great deal and is much better to work with lately—more so if you don’t install a library for everything under the sun (because you really don’t have to in order to be productive).
There are valid complaints to levy against the ecosystem, but the ones you listed are non-issues if you take time to learn the language and VMs/environments themselves. To be fair, I mean.
I don't use scaffolding [if I can help it]—unless it's some I've set up and maintain myself (if I know I'm going to do a run of similar projects).
Normally I only do greenfield projects as their architecture and maintainability are highest priority due to the need for longevity. Plus I often find those systems rather heavy-and not just in JS.
There are valid complaints to levy against the ecosystem, but the ones you listed are non-issues if you take time to learn the language and VMs/environments themselves. To be fair, I mean.