Yankee Bob and I very recently did full restorations of our front axles (POR15, stainless hardware, etc). We used a plasma cutter and cut off the dust shield down to the spindle flange. This gave us the look we desidered. Since I installed blue painted 4dr Kick calipers, and gold zinc'd drilled Brembo rotors, I wanted good looks, and as mentioned above, stop getting mud, rocks and snow/ice buildup beind the rotor. Making the backing plate look like this kept the caliper properly spaced, and kept the part that keeps crap out of the hub bearing.
I'll post up some pics, but it looks great (along with the S/S hoses, and blue wiper seal rings)