My buddy had a cabinet shop and his old foreman had the same rule. They got a huge rush job for a remodel and the only way to meet the deadline was pocket screws on the face frames. He was sweating it, but they did it, and those cabinets are still solid ten years later. Sometimes the "right" way is just the way that gets the job done well.
Still solid ten years later" is just luck. Pocket screws pull the joint apart over time with wood movement. They're a shortcut that fails when humidity changes. Saw a face frame split clean off at a client's house last year.