Why does adding a filetype to PATHEXT cause invocations to say "Access is denied"?

Question

My goal: to run a file hello.py on my %PATH% when I write hello.

What I've done:

• Made sure .py is part of PATHEXT.

C:\Windows\System32>echo %PATHEXT%
.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.PY;.PYZ;.PYW

• Made sure .py is associated with the ftype Python.File and that Python.File is associated with my Python installation.

C:\Windows\System32>ftype | findstr -i python
Python.File="C:/Users/gal/scoop/apps/python311/current/python.exe" "%1" %*

C:\Windows\System32>assoc .py
.py=Python.File

• Made sure hello.py is on my %PATH% and that it executes correctly when I manually specify the Python executable, including taking arguments.

C:\Windows\System32>where hello
c:\path\hello.py

C:\Windows\System32>C:\Users\gal\scoop\apps\python311\current\python.exe c:\path\hello.py George Elaine
Hello, George and Elaine

Based on everything I'm reading this should be enough for it to work, but when I run hello.py or hello I get "Access is denied".

What am I doing wrong?