  Let $(M,L)$ be a non-spin spin$^c$ manifold. Fix a Riemannian metric $g$ on
$M$ and a connection $A$ on $L$, and let $D_L$ be the associated spin$^c$ Dirac
operator. Let $R^{tw}_{g,A}:=R_g + 2ic(\Omega)$ be the twisted scalar curvature
(which takes values in the endomorphims of the spinor bundle), where $R_g$ is
the scalar curvature of $g$ and $2ic(\Omega)$ comes from the curvature $2$-form
$\Omega$ of the connection $A$. Then the Lichnerowicz-Schr\"odinger formula for
the square of the Dirac operator takes the form $D_L^2
=\nabla^*\nabla+\frac{1}{4}R^{tw}_{g,A}$. In a previous work we proved that a
closed non-spin simply-connected spin$^c$-manifold $(M,L)$ of dimension $n\geq
5$ admits a pair $(g,A)$ such that $R^{tw}_{g,A}>0$ if and only if the index
$\alpha^c(M,L):=\text{ind}\, D_L$ vanishes in $K_n$. In this paper we introduce
a scalar-valued generalized scalar curvature $R^{gen}_{g,A}:=R_g -
2|\Omega|_{op}$, where $|\Omega|_{op}$ is the pointwise operator norm of
Clifford multiplication $c(\Omega)$, acting on spinors. We show that the
positivity condition on the operator $R^{tw}_{g,A}$ is equivalent to the
positivity of the scalar function $R^{gen}_{g,A}$. We prove a corresponding
trichotomy theorem concerning the curvature $R^{gen}_{g,A}$, and study its
implications. We also show that the space $\mathcal{R}^{gen+}(M,L)$ of pairs
$(g,A)$ with $R^{gen}_{g,A}>0$ has non-trivial topology, and address a
conjecture about non-triviality of the ``index difference'' map.
