That might work but the shield ground is often connected to 'cleaner' points at each end as the USB ground may be carrying local noise. It isn't particularly important if a small local ground noise exists as long as it appears on all the USB wires simulataneously because it is the difference between the wires that really matters. The shield will prevent that noise from radiating outside the cable and also help prevent outside noise getting in.
Also bear in mind what happens at the instant you push the USB plugs into the sockets. If there is a potential difference between the equipment at each end, the outer metal screen of the plug will connect first and ensure both potentials are shorted and therefore equal. If you rely on the USB signal pins as ground, can you be sure the ground (negative) pin connects before the others? The power pin and ground pins are longer than the sensitive signal pins in all USB plugs but typically the ground and power are the same length so you could connect power first and leave the ground disconnected. If that happened you might cause damage.
Brian.