It would be nice if you could scale an object on a single axis. I have some projects with springs that compress when you assemble it. With the current scale tool, the entire spring scales. If you could scale in a single direction, you could show springs “compressing” and “uncompressing.” (It’s possible I’m just not seeing this function).
You are correct, at the moment the scale affects the entire part. I will raise an enhancement request to be able to scale on a single axis. Thanks for the suggestion!