I will qualify my statement by telling you that I have no personal experience with upgrades out of ANC with any airline other than AS. That said, the majority of people who regularly fly to Alaska bank status with AS, so from what I've heard, upgrade chances on other airlines are actually pretty good. Of course, you'll need to be elite on that airline (or a partner airline, but make sure you qualify first!).

With AS, the main trick I've used to help give myself a better chance is to fly through PDX instead of SEA. ANC-SEA is a very MVPG-heavy route, and PDX seems to have a lot less competition for seats up front. Plus, PDX is a much nicer airport to connect in.

As for "status upgrades, MVP upgrades, mileage or pay for upgrade":

-Status upgrades: I assume you mean the 48-hour advance complimentary upgrades. These are the main ones I use, since they're free!
-MVP upgrades: Not sure what you mean, since these would be the same as "status upgrades"
-Mileage: While these can be confirmed in advance, I wouldn't call these a good deal, since you have to book at least a Value fare to use these. Value fares can be double the regular "Hot Deals" fares--not worth it just for the privilege of dropping another 15,000 miles on an upgrade.
-Pay for upgrade: As an MVP, you should never even have this in your vocabulary! If upgradeable space opens up, you should be cleared into F for free without spending a penny.

Of course, this assumes that you and all of your traveling companions all hold MVP status. If you tell us here or update your profile to include your location and status (and airline affiliation if you're not AS!) and let us know the statuses of those traveling with you, we can probably give you some more applicable assistance.