I recently completed a plugin to scatter objects over a surface and automatically setup LOD grouping.
I thought I would attached a demo vid here as well as a zip of the plugin in case anyone might find it useful.
The plugin / source can be freely download here
The plugin requires the pyQT libraries to be installed, but links have been included to that in the install files.
I have only tested this plugin with maya 2013 64 bit on windows, but should work on other 201x versions
I am looking to actively develop it, so any comments and criticisms would be welcomed.
(I have also attached the plugin to this thread if anyone doesnt feel like clicking off the page 
uvScatterScript_1_0.zip (16.8 KB)