That keeping the physical copy intact would mean creating a copy, and they don’t have the copy right.

I think it is to avoid dealing with unauthorised copies. If you forbid their existence, you never have to deal with them. Much easier than making laws about what you can and cannot do with the copies you made or what someone else can/cannot do with the copies that you made.

This is probably coming from the music/film industry lobbying. They are generating artificial scarcity. Not unlike the diamond industry.

The AI giants were arguing that if they bought the books they can scan them. The court said they can if the original doesn't exist anymore. The same court would presumably be ok with you making a digital copy of a VHS but only if you destroyed the original tape afterwards.