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There's a lot of NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome in the publishing business. Also, there are rights questions for older works. (Did the original contract contain e-book rights?) Are there ways to do scanning/proofing cheaply (to the publisher)? Yes, but they'd cede control of the process to a third party.
Relevent example, author "X" has fans. Would any of them be willing to do either a scan or a scan proofing for having their name on the e-book in perpertuity? ("This scan for book "Y" was done by fan "A" and "B" ".) Where to scout for this free labor? A wiki entry? Hmmm... (But the scan will be crappy.) (Have you seen some of the commercial scans?) (But it'll be pirated!) (Um, look around you, it'll already been done!) (But, but, I OWN it. You can't touch it!!!!) (<Shrug>, what part of selling something that cost you nothing don't you understand?)
All of it, apparently. Anytime I suggest this, all the people familiar with the publishing industry sneer at this idea.
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