Gold Plating on Glass?
Gold plating glass could probably be 99.99% complete. It would make a nice mirror and would probably stay unoxidized for a long time.

However, if I wanted to remove the gold, I think I would rinse the glass with HF solution, or perhaps NaOH solution, either of which would find those teeny tiny gaps and undercut the whole gold plate. 

I don't think there would be any strong chemical bonding, and no mechanical strength to a gold film. Glass is just a reactive substrate, and protecting it would require a finite thickness, with mechanical strength. 

An example of plating not working well is chromium plating (although it can be done very well, it requires much attention to detail). Automobile bumpers used to be chrome plated, but developed rust spots after a few years because of porosity in the chromium film. I believe nickel plating to reduce corrosion tendency (but Ni is not shiny enough) followed by chrome plating works reasonably well. But then there is hexavalent chromium toxicity... So now we just paint the bumpers or make them out of plastic. 

Perhaps you could coat the glass with teflon or polypropylene.