Would it not be a good idea for Apple to block an iPhone from being restored if in lost mode?

Surely there should be more protection against this kind of thing. I lost my iPhone at the weekend, I believe it fell out of my pocket when I slipped over. I have searched for it where I slipped but cannot find it anywhere so I can only assume someone has picked it up. I immediately went on to iCloud to try and locate the phone, which worked for about a minute until the phone ran out of battery. The location backed up my suspicion that it had been picked up. I then turned on lost mode hoping that it may secure my phone a bit, to later find out that all it takes is for someone to restore the phone on iTunes and I won't be able to track it anymore.

I hope that the person that found my phone may be a good Samaritan and either hand it to the police or if they manage to charge it will see the message I have attempted to leave on lock mode and return it to me, however, I fear that will not be the case.

Would it be that hard for Apple to implement something that would stop a phone from being restored, when in lock mode, until the phone has lock mode turned off?