Yes, and that's a good thing.
"The notion that emoji support impedes that is simply not true."
If it does not, why are there so many unresolved issues and shortcomings lingering around for years.
It's not that the issues around Han Unification will go away by ignoring them. There are related issues in western languages, like the umlaut/trema distinction. Pushing these topics, which are core to Unicode's original mission, into OpenType is not a solution.
Why do we continue adding pictures of random every day objects, like disco balls, when not even characters common in ordinary books can be represented?
Don't you think reallocating resources from emoji work to more serious issues would make sense?