But should be noted that references are often reused after a variable was destroyed (like when exiting scope)

The address of a reference might get re-used. References don't get re-used. Either you didn't weaken the reference and so the referenced item doesn't get destroyed. Or you do weaken the reference and, when the referenced item gets destroyed, the weakened reference is set to 0 (so any re-use of that particular address doesn't matter to your reference).