The advantage to driving a shabby car- you dont' care all that much if there is yet another scratch. :P

It actually is a concern, but in all the years I've done this, I've never wacked the car. I dig down so there is only about an inch, and pull that off with my hands. And I've yet to meet the plastic shovel that does so well with snow plow piles- around here, they use salt and sand, and it gets turns into a pile almost rock hard, head sized chunks of dirty ice along the road sides.