Actually, standard pitch surface mount can be easier to deal with than PTH. Needs slightly different mind-, skill- and tool- sets, but removing solder and cleaning pads after a component removal is incredibly easy compared to PTH.

Obviously as the size goes down and lead count goes up, everything gets harder. But I'd hazard a guess that dealing with a 84 pin 0.5mm surface mount chip would still be easier than dealing with an 84 pin 0.5mm PTH chip (if such a thing existed).