A big breakthrough in dynamic range is long overdue. The current linear capture system provides far too many levels for the brighter parts of the image and far too few levels for the darker tones. If the scene is of relatively low dynamic range, consisting mainly of midtones, there's no great need to expose to the right. Correct exposure for the mid tones will suffice. If the DR of the scene is wide, as many landscape shots are which include sky or sunlit areas, then exposing to the right is pretty essential for noise-free shadow detail.
Since I'm not an engineer, I find it difficult to appreciate the difficulties involved in devising a capture system which compresses the DR. That is, one which redistributes the levels through a process of selective augmentation of low level signals.
We already have an example of excellent noise reduction with Canon DSLRs at high ISO. Take two shots using the same exposure, but one at ISO 100 and the other at ISO 1600, then compare the shadows. The ISO 1600 shot will likely have much better shadow detail, yet those shadows (on the sensor) in both shots have received the same amount of light. It seems that amplification of the analog signal prior to digitisation allows for dramatic noise reduction. Of course, if the exposure at ISO 100 was a full exposure to the right, then the same exposure at ISO 1600 would blow the highlights by 4 stops of overexposure.
But supposing there was a way of diminishing the intensity of those 4 stops, ie. the darker tones are augmented and the brighter tones are simultaneously diminished. We would then have a compression of dynamic range which, when unpacked, could be very wide indeed.
I'm reminded of developments in vinyl LP audio recording prior to the audio CD. The dynamic range of LP discs used to be typically around 50dB until a system called dbx was invented which compressed the signal at the recording stage, uncompressed it during playback producing a significant boost to DR which, as I recall, was around 80dB. However, CD audio gave us around 90dB and greater, so the dbx technology was too late.