Here’s an example of long-term sunscald damage on a peach scaffold branch, which contributed to a major failure - a broken limb.
That internal damage is from a fungus that entered the tree through the sunscald damaged area. The sunscald only kills the cambium layer just under the bark, and trees often recover from this.
A couple of my cherry trees were damaged by sunscald after I pruned their upper branches. They were not badly affected for several years afterwards, but then I noticed some Turkey Tail mushrooms growing on them along with signs of rot in the sapwood. Now I’m afraid that the damaged branches will break off and plan to replace the two affected trees.
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