Scooter starts with starter fluid, then dies

[Shadowfire]

I'll go with "didn't get quite everything when you cleaned up the carburetor".
When cleaning the carburetor out, its easy to miss the passage between the main float bowl and cold start (bystarter) bowl. If its still plugged up, gas can't travel to the bystarter and it won't enrich the air when the engine is cold and cold starting will be impossible.
http://hondaspree.net/wiki/index.php...,_What_It_Does
This page shows where the bystarter passage is typically located (in the float bowl).