I think they were "pulling your leg"... ;-)

Yes, you can do this, but it's typically faster to get things right with a human performer...

Either set of tools can get the job done as well as combinations from both camps... I find it always being dependent on who/what is available and needed...

I do both/either for myself as well as clients...

Keni

Nothing worse than tick perfect quantized backing vocals. I love when everyone's putting their own feel and timing into the harmonies, just listen to anything by Little Feat, some of those backing harmonies sound gloriously stoned and full of character.

Did you know that all The Band's vocals were done with an early prototype of Melodyne synthesis?

Thinking of creating some voice that works for demos - and do with Waves Ultrapitch which has a 3 and 6 voice versions - just slide a voice to a harmony and alter formant, move in stereo fields and volume. Maybe do telephone type almost and just very lite touch of some harmonies with Ultrapitch, and try to cover with running an instrument doing vocal melody as well. Don't like the sound of my own voice.
 
The things that Queen did was fenomenal, but also revealed on a documentary how much time they spent on fixing that, it was days. I don't recall, but they mentioned if it was dozens of overdubs to get that sound, experimenting like crazy with each others voices to see what goes where in harmony. And then it was tapes...
 
Got this Sia album "1000 forms of fear" and where her voice is doubled, too many places, it doesn't sound nice. Not like ordinary double takes, which become fuller - but creates some artifacts which are not nice at all. Sounds a little bit like hired band live on cruising ship, with bad PA - kind of brittle vocal distortion - but just a fraction, but too much of that on the album. Here voice alone is good. Got a feeling this is some artificial dubbing, when so, or exciter gone bad.
 
It sounds a bit like I tried to use Waves Aphex Aural Exciter on a femail vocal I hired, but always felt it sounded crap - haven't figured that one out yet, but read it should be good so I have to learn how to use it properly. Another day in the lab...

vanceen
Did you know that all The Band's vocals were done with an early prototype of Melodyne synthesis?

No, I didn't. Please explain. Digital recording just hardly hardly existed in the sixties.
I think what the Nashville techs told the OP was exaggerated, to put it mildly. It's so common to have background singers of different gender, that it doesn't sound believable that "Melodyne bgvs" were something like a rule. Melodyne harmonics may be used on tracks practically as a rule, but not necessarily to create the main part of the bgvs using the verse/chorus bits. It's more believable that the bgvs are arranged and recorded separately, and then edited with Melodyne. This what I think. I know very little....

I can see them doing that now.  All the music, to an old traditional country musician, sounds like the same producer and same "A team" session musicians on almost everything that is now sold as "country" music.  (Sorry I had to say that). 
 
I have Antares Harmony EVO and I've done a few songs using that to get harmonies.  But not many as it sounds too "perfect".
 
 

Right on Jack, my feelings exactly. There are sooooo many studios in Nashville. And I bet 90% are only in it for the money and not in it to actually produce art. Many a fool of a wanna be musician still heads there to record with stars in their eyes. Welcome to Nashville, your money is more than welcome here, even if you can't sing and your songs suck, well make it sound like all the pro's. 

There are some who actually sing background (and everything else also).
 
This is a shameless plug,  but check out the vocal group my son is in.  You can see them in the current #1 movie in America... "Pitch Perfect 2" and #1 album on Billboard.
 
Yes, They sing their background vocals..
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNAkI8KMHMU
 
If you wonder about them doing "melodyne" go see them live!  They would love to see you.
 
 

I figured out V-Vocal about the time Melodyne came bundled in Sonar, so I have yet to really get into Melodyne.  I clone the raw/comped vocal take and then run it through V-Vocal.  There are usually a few notes here and there that need a little help.  (V-Vocal seems to be less stable in Platinum, though.)
 
Once that is done, I'll practice singing a harmony part(s) and if I like, I record.  But, with Nectar, getting some quick and decent harmonies is awfully easy.  I either automate a Send to Nectar, or I copy the vocal clips I want harmonized to another track and plug in Nectar.  In either case, I Solo the Voices in Nectar and try various combos/intervals.  After that it's just a matter of finding a fader balance that works.
 
Having said that, there is no substitute for human harmony.  For oohs and aaahs, I guess I could sing those melodies too and then let Nectar harmonize them as well.  Hadn't really though about that until just now....

Personally, I don't think any software solution is capable of introducing the subtle pitch & timing variations that are naturally captured when recording either a bunch of singers or overdubbing the same vocalist.