The stripping really has nothing to do with setting the clutch. I've driven 10s of thousands of screws over the years. The issue I've found when using a drill to drive screws is when you get to the end of driving the screw the bit wants to slip out of the screw once it gets to a certain amount of torque. And yes I use the correct bits and quality bits. Just the nature of the beast that as torque builds up when driving a screw it has to go somewhere. Also I've found that screws snap easier when using a drill instead of a driver.
If a drill works for you then great. But in my experience I've found an impact to be a lot better for driving screws then a drill.
The clutch has everything to do with it. That's exactly what it's for and it's perfect for that. I've been using drills to drive screws for 40+ years, decades before I knew of anyone using an impact for anything but turning large fasteners, and have never ever stripped a smaller size screw (say, #10 x 1-1/4", for example), not even brass, or sunk one too deep, unless I used the wrong bit or forgot to set the clutch appropriately or skipped predrilling a pilot hole, etc. It just doesn't happen.
Larger screws, yeah, use an impact.
Edit: I'll add, I like to start on a test piece of scrap of the same material I'm working with. I get the appropriate size pilot bit and set the depth on it for the length screws I'm using. Drill a hole and then start out trying to sink the screw in it with the clutch set too low.
At least on every Dewalt I've had, a '1' clutch setting is typically only for screwing machine-style screws/bolts in threaded fasteners, not strong enough to even turn anything but the tiniest screw in wood. We typically only use a '1' when working on computers, electronics, etc (and the clutch on the drill or cordless screwdriver works amazingly well for that), so when working with a soft wood I'll usually start out with a clutch setting of '2' which is also usually too low to even turn the screw - or strip it. I'll begin dialing up the clutch until it sets the screw exactly how I want. Then I'll drill another pilot and do another practice screw to double-check, and maybe even a third or fourth especially if I'm working with soft wood where you'll get some variance due to changes in the grain, as opposed to MDF, for example. After that's all good I'll zip through whatever project I'm working on pulling the trigger full blast and let it rip, letting the clutch do it's job.
Using a drill with a clutch is way quicker and more reliable for setting screw depth and preventing stripping of smaller screws than trying to feather the variable-speed trigger on an impact. That's of course assuming the clutch works properly and not
too strong even on lower settings <- Not sure if that's a Milwaukee prob at-large or just with that particular one, but it's disconcerting either way.
I definitely prefer to use an impact when working projects with larger screws especially when I'm not predrilling pilot holes, like when screwing down a deck. An impact is a lot easier on the wrist too if you have hundreds of screws to set. On smaller stuff I'm just waaay too likely to sink screws too deep with an impact though. I can't get anywhere near the reliability and uniformity I get using a drill with a clutch.
