Of course, points are relative to the pixel-per-unit ratio, so you all you really have to do is a quick mental calculation (unless you're using a really odd ratio for "ppu"). But it would be a bit of a time and trouble saver.
Typographic points aren't. The default measure used in DTP is 1/72 inches. You shouln't need to do any mental calculation to know the height of a 10 pt type box. For instance, in my country legal texts can't be smaller than 8 points. That's something that has nothing to do with screen resolution. Typographic points are a real world unit. I'm not sure how it's implemented in SVG, but it more likely would be using 72 dpi as standard resolution so the typographic point matches to the screen points. But that has to be a reference only because resolution may vary.
And about your first sentence: I'm ok with Inkscape being an SVG editor, but it's announced like a vector illustration program in the website (comparable to Illustrator, Corel, etc.) And that's what most users will expect of the program. People see Inkscape as a Corel/illustration free alternative, not like something "for editing SVG" even when Inkscape actually is a SVG editor. So imo, the XML editor should be used for advanced operations, not for everyday stuff like setting the size of a typeface.
Gez.