You could already do some minimal shell-like scripting with ipython[1]. Just put your ipython-flavored script in a file with .ipy extension an call it with ipython, or just use #!/usr/bin/ipython as a shebang.

  #!/usr/bin/ipython
  files = !ls
  for f in files:
    print(f)

That being said, it is a bit clunky to use since it's not a proper shell, so xonsh is definitely a very welcome improvement.

[1]: http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/stable/interactive/shell.html