I'm with beckoa, but I am fine with people who prefer them as a way to resolve alarms. I am NOT OK with them being used as primary screening. I am especially NOT OK with the many airports that put them on the elite line.

There are numerous multi-page threads on this topic in Travel Safety & Security. I would just caution partsman_ba that the scanner is no guarantee against the invasive patdown. If there is anything funny looking, your wife still may have the patdown. In fact, it may be more likely that it will become the private patdown. Eeek.