How to reproduce:
1. Open the attached "GlobalTest" project and open "ExampleScene" scene
2. Inspect the GameObject, notice that there is a List of 10 empty elements
3. Reload the scene and notice that size of the List didn't change
4. Go to Edit --> Project Settings --> Editor and set Asset Serialization mode to "Force Text"
5. Reload the scene

Expected result: Size of the List is still 10 as it was before
Actual result: Size of the List is set to 0, every time you reload the scene

Notes:
1. This appears only to happen with the Lists containing Empty objects, if String or Text elements are used, after reload, List size is set to 10 as expected

Reproducible with - 2017.1.0b4, 5.6.0p4, 5.5.3p2, 5.4.5f1