Shovel It Well and Promptly
Importantly: Get a GOOD steel/aluminum shovel, not a cheap plastic POS. This helps clear compacted or otherwise difficult to remove snow (plastic typically does not have the rigidity to do it well). More costly up front, but will also last a LOT longer so it's the more frugal choice to begin with.
This is the "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".
Sand Icy Spots
Put down Sand or other gritty substance. This provides traction on icy surfaces.
Redirect/move any down spouts that empty onto walking surfaces
Lots of builders are lazy and will put down spouts in places where they drain (and ice up) surfaces you want to walk on. Our previous home had one that emptied right on the damn driveway right in a high traffic area.
Move, bury or otherwise prevent those drains from emptying onto those surfaces. (more prevention vs cure)
DO NOT PUT SALT DOWN ON TEXTURED CONCRETE
Salting your driveway or other textured concrete will greatly accelerate the deterioration of the concrete because when you put down salt you lower the freezing temperature of the water. This is, of course, the point of putting the salt down but it also leads to an increase in freeze/thaw cycles and it's the freeze/thaw cycles that cause the deterioration to your concrete as the water makes its way into every little crevice and then freezes and expands.
If you must put salt down, clean it up promptly after the ice is melted (shovel/sweep/etc. it away). In the rare case that I use salt I also "rinse" the concrete afterward by shoveling snow back onto the surface and then shoveling it away again (into some place where I don't want to grow things).
You also want to avoid parking your car on your textured concrete if you have a lot of icy build up on the vehicle as that ice usually contains the salt they put down on the roads and it will accumulate on your concrete as it melts off your car.
Non-textured concrete, like the smooth flatwork in your garage isn't as susceptible to freeze damage and it's not worth worrying about. Just another good reason to clean out all the junk in your car storage building so that the car can be stored there! ;) However, I still park my car in the street if it's full of road ice/salt until things dry up.
Obviously, safety is more important than maintaining your concrete so this advice is, of course, overruled in the event of a safety need.
Never buy a north facing property/driveway
Self explanatory, I hope. ;)
