That's the way I have always done it too, if you use a fork separator there is a good chance of damaging the boot. Not a problem if you're fitting new track rod ends but a bit of a B. If you're not.
Absolutely Nick, the scissor one is a little more gentle on the boot but not always, the hammer in wedges should be thrown in the scrap as they do a lot of damage, as you say not an issue of your changing the boot or joint, years ago you could buy boots but not so easy to find today.
I had to change the boots on my previous car -4/4 1993 with steering box and scissor type rods- before taking it for MOT.
I bought them off eBay for next to nothing, taking care to buy the correct size .
Luckily I have a splitter to separate the joints. I flushed them with excess grease as part of the process to make sure any grit was removed, they were all ok though and none needed replacing. Made me think what a garage would have done....probable replaced the joints completely!
So....do a search on eBay under "ball joint rubber boot" or similar.
When you buy it's best to get enough to change them all, the only fiddled bit is getting the spring back over the boot that holds it in place...your fingers get greasy!
I slid the springs up over the casing of the joint and carefully levered them back down after starting them off in the groove. Finally greasing them up , you feel the grease inside them as you pump and see the boot expand.
Nearly forgot, I used new nuts to refit them.
