I understand this is all just a workaround, but there are a few more things you could do.
If you right click on your task bar, and go to "Properties," you can select "Auto-hide the taskbar." This will make the maximized window overlap the task bar. To use it, press the windows key or mouse near the edge.
I find that, when using mouse scroll to go up, it matters if the mouse "hit" the top edge of the actual viewport. If you mouse speed is high, or you just move the mouse really fast, it actually skips a bunch of pixels on the way. If it jumps over the hot spot and ends up on the title bar, it won't register. If, however, you mouse a little slower (or at an angle), even with the mouse ending up on the titlebar, it will continue to scroll up.