While a surprising amount of heat is generated in a shock, trannies run hot as well. The difference is that transmission fluid is designed to work with the clutch packs and has different shear properties than shock oil in that regard. Don't know if it will affect the wipers (if you have them) in your shocks, I'd say short to mid range use you won't notice any ill effect, but if you were looking further down the road, it may be a different story. My biggest concern would be it getting past the shaft seals/bearing more easily than light hydraulic oil. In a pinch, I'd go with that (hydraulic/jack oil) before i'd go with ATF.
There are emulsion shocks on the market with the air and oil intermixing, haven't really studied those yet. Everything I ever had had separate chambers for air/oil or used different components (spring/cushion, spring/air, cushion/oil etc.) The polaris shocks on the rear of mine are squishy sounding. allegedly rebuilt, don't think there quite enough pressure in them or they didn't bleed all the air out of the valve chamber when putting them together.
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