Let diagnostics explain:

$ echo 'Scalar value @scores[$i] better written as $scores[$i]' | spla
+in
Scalar value @scores[$i] better written as $scores[$i] (#1)
    (W syntax) You've used an array slice (indicated by @) to select a
    single element of an array.  Generally it's better to ask for a sc
+alar
    value (indicated by $).  The difference is that $foo[&bar] always
    behaves like a scalar, both when assigning to it and when evaluati
+ng its
    argument, while @foo[&bar] behaves like a list when you assign to 
+it,
    and provides a list context to its subscript, which can do weird t
+hings
    if you're expecting only one subscript.
    
    On the other hand, if you were actually hoping to treat the array
    element as a list, you need to look into how references work, beca
+use
    Perl will not magically convert between scalars and lists for you.
+  See
    perlref.
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