Actually, ver. 8 (and earlier) did show both the files/folders count and the percentage completed, all in plain text, while the scan was running.
On my system, a full system scan is around 50-55 GB and takes around 25 minutes with both caches active. While I do stay at the computer in case something unexpected needs attention, most often I take the opportunity to read another few chapters of whatever book I'm in the middle of.