Softnecks do occasionally produce scapes, when they are stressed. Sometimes they produce bulbils in the stem, instead of a "normal" scape. I've seen a few of these at the farm, but I don't know if the bulb size was affected. With hardnecks, if you don't remove the scape, you need to leave them longer to get to the usual size. So unless you want the bulbils, you may want to snap off the scapes.
I've never seen garlic rust before.
Apparently you should remove the affected leaves because otherwise it will spread. Also if you have some clean straw to put around the plants, that would stop water splashing up from the soil - which is where the rust fungus lives.
according to:
http://www.digthis.com/garlic-rust/