Up here road salt makes sure that it won't matter after 10 years anyhow. Road salt, potholes, door dings from other drivers. Not sure it is worth the effort, other than to slow down the wear and tear process a bit. So if snow removal leaves a small scratch each year, or does a bit of damage somehow, so be it. The car isn't getting any newer, anyhow.
I've noticed that using the ice scraper on the windshield will scratch the glass, over time I start to see long vertical lines which must be from that. It's balanced by the fact that when that occurs, odds are the windshield is badly pitted anyhow, from all the sand and rocks on the roads year 'round.
I have a variety of ice scrapers with brushes on them, not sure i've seen the brushes damage my paint, but since I don't wax my cars I guess I wouldn't notice anyhow. Put on a ski jacket, a good set of gloves (I prefer lobster mitts for winter, that or ski mittens, I've yet to find gloves that keep my fingers warm enough) and a decent brush. Takes some work after a good storm, but that's life. If it was a really big storm I'll use a shovel, very very carefully so as to not nick the paint, but it has to be a lot of snow for me to resort to that.
In a pinch I've used an ice scraper to get cars unstuck, using them to dig down into the snow.