Scala's type system tries to improve on Java's Generics, but in my opinion it makes things worse.
With Scala we end up with a part of the language where library writers use advanced things like covariance and contravariance, and a smaller part of the language for us mere mortals (a similar situation to C++ and Ruby). I'm preferring the Lisp style where the normal developer uses the same tools as a library writer (e.g., first class functions, closures and macros). And as far as implicit conversion, I agree with Dean's assessment that it can easily be too magical. It's necessary because everything is an object along with the static typing.
On the evolving Java front, I'd like to see JVM based languages move farther away from their Java underpinnings. Having interoperation is fine, but I'd like to only use it for third party libraries.
Finally, sounds like Dean is moving away from the everything is an object thinking similar to Rich Hickey. I find this sort of alternate very interesting as I explore functional programming after doing OO most of my career.