returning in the middle of a using block

As several others have pointed out in general this is not a problem.

The only case it will cause you issues is if you return in the middle of a using statement and additionally return the in using variable. But then again, this would also cause you issues even if you didn’t return and simply kept a reference to a variable.

using ( var x = new Something() ) { 
  // not a good idea
  return x;
}

Just as bad

Something y;
using ( var x = new Something() ) {
  y = x;
}