Destructive means that it permanently effects or changes the pixels of the image.  Non-destructive changes can be reverted, or should I say “turned on and off” at will.  Sounds like a no brainer, right?  Why would anyone ever choose destructive or non-destructive?  Well, the reason would boil down to time, efficiency, and budget.  Creating a clipping path requires extra steps and therefore is a longer process.  If the area being removed is not needed, than why spend the extra time, effort, and money to remove it?  Especially if you are working with a significant number of images.

Here are some examples that might help paint a clearer picture.

Example #1 - Photography session of products for a catalog.  All the products will have a similar grey background with the company logo imposed behind the product.  There are 300+ items.

Best Choice - Background Removal.  Since the background is not needed at all, there is no point in spending the extra time and money (whether it is being outsourced to us or you’re paying your in-house graphic designer) to perform the extra steps needed to preserve the products background.

Example #2 - Photography session with a model at the beach who will be posing in a swimsuit in 10 different color variations.

Best Choice - Clipping Path.  Since, the model and the swimwear are the subject, they will have a clipping path created around them, but by preserving the background, the graphic designer can separate the model while performing edits to the background separately.  Maybe the background is blurred to put more focus on the model, maybe the lighting is off. With them separated using a clipping path, there is much more control over the finished product.

Pro-Tip:  Create a clipping path of the model as well as one of her swimsuit.  By doing so, you could take and pay for 1 shot of the model instead of 10.  Using that clipping path of the swimsuit you could create all the other color variations in post production within minutes for a fraction of the cost.