I also use MEGA, but to rely on that's no different, if not worse than the alternative of restricting access on Drive. Drive's just a ton more convenient for everyone, since not only does everyone already have google accounts, it doubles as a multimedia platform and wiki site. You don't even have to download anything if you don't want to if you just wanna peruse through those files.
As you mentioned, Google Drive folders can be restricted to view, but the situation is actually reversed; people can still download files, but you just can't upload anything without being a folder admin. So if we continue to have these problems, this'll be what I'll resort to.