wire scrims dim a light overall without a color temp change. nets can dim a specific area without changing color temp. Diffusion will also do this (soft siders, etc). A black silk 18x24 will dim a light by 3-4 stops.
There is always a way.
But scrims/nets and diffusion are different things. Because the 'holes' in the nets/scrims are bigger than their thread/wire/mesh, they cut down on the intensity of the light without changing the quality (hard vs. soft). Within reason of course, if you cram a light with many scrims you might end up with a wire-like pattern. Diffusion, on the other hand, while reducing the intensity of the light, also changes it's quality, taking it from hard to soft or very soft, depending on the diffusion used.