Would you mind clarifying what exactly applies for return? The main argument against except is it encourages mistakes (people use except when they mean except Exception). I don’t see return having a similar problem; it means 100% the same as return None and can be used interchangably without ambiguity.
While it is arguable whether the except situation should be handled by the language, I feel the return situation can be handled entirely by linters and formatters without drawbacks.