This discussion can go on forever, but here is my informed observation.
I am an experienced transmission rebuilder. I have rebuilt very many automatic transmissions from the domestic manufacturers as well as a few foreign ones. Every make of transmission has its own quirks and peculiarities. The technology has improved considerably over the years. More operating ranges, better friction materials, better fluids, the addition of electronics, and the elimination of troublesome mechanical components like governors and a host of "compensating" valves.
Transmission oil will get dark or discolor for only two reasons - heat or a friction element is burning up. Either one usually indicates that the transmission is nearing failure. As other posters have said, once the oil gets dark, it is usually too late for any "mechanic in a can" remedies.
Heat is the biggest enemy of automatic transmissions. The cooler you can keep them, the better they work and the longer they last. The biggest source of heat in a transmission is the torque converter. Clutches, bands, and gear sets do not generate much heat. But, heat does shorten the life of friction materials. Most friction materials are surprisingly fragile.
Each manufacturer has done mountains of research, development, and testing to develop their transmissions. As such, they have found certain combinations of fluid additives and friction materials that work the best for their transmissions. That is why you put the recommended fluids in transmissions. Will the wrong fluids work in transmissions? The answer is a qualified yes - up to a point. In the immediate "right now" moment, they will work fine. They might cause some shift quality issues, but in strictly hydraulic terms, fluid is fluid.
The problems arise in the long term. The shift quality issues I mentioned are slipping during shift, harsh engagement, delayed engagement, and slipping under load. Other issues could be incompatibility with bonding agents (the ones that bond the friction material to the metal) or electronic components. My main concern is the long term durability of the transmission.
I do not consider myself to be smarter than the people that designed, developed, and tested the transmission. Because I am NOT smarter than those people. Neither is BG company. Neither are the many producers of "mechanic in a can" products that promise miraculous results from using their products.
Flushing leaves the door open to mixing of fluids and contamination. It is also not as complete as it is claimed to be. Those who claim to have had good results from flushing could be just lucky. They might have had the same results without flushing. The automatics used in buses and medium duty trucks are so much heavier and robust than those used in cars and pickups that there is no real comparison.
You may believe in miracles in a can and third party technologies, but it ruffles my feathers to see it presented as being superior to time tested methods of maintaining a transmission.
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