I drive my 05 GTO most everyday and when I park even if it's at the far end of a parking lot I always take 2 spots with the car angled at a 45. If it's a smaller lot I try for an end spot and offset park in the last space so I'm barely on the asphalt. Still not fool proof but I have only 1 dent in 5 years.
There was an article in one of the hot rod mags I believe it was back in the 70s that said to use a tube of foam pipe insulation and run a wooden rod through it and suspend it from the window edge with cord to protect the sides of the car from morons and long doors. I was thinking a round curtain rod might be better so it could be collapsed to store in the trunk and the pipe insulation could be folded in half. I never tried it but an oversize removable body molding like this would hopefully help somewhat. Kind of a pain to use each time you park but still a lot less labor intensive than removing dents and refinishing scratches.
This reminds me of the commercial I've seen I believe it was on the speed channel where a guy parks his pride and joy at the far end of a parking lot and as he walks toward the store in a deserted parking lot and just before he reaches the store a clapped out SW roars to the far end of the lot and parks right next to his car. When he returns to his car there isn't even enough room to open the door on the drivers side, yep that's pretty much how it works in my experiences too. My wife says they want to park next to something to make their car look better but actually parking a beater next to a nice car just makes theirs look that much worse...............................
