There is no fixed date but it is expected or hoped to be before the end of the first half of this year.
I have no problem with scanning speed and since we have no information on your system if any improvements and they are always trying to improve that. I had a huge jump in speed when I got my new system, more ram, faster cpu, and faster sata2 HDD. So without that any improvement in scanning speed has to be compared against what you have, but it isn't going massive as there is only so much to work with within your own specifications.
I bet you also want more functionality, better detections, etc. etc. all of which also have am impact.