I'm not sure I agree with the idea of adding utility methods to the $rootScope to avoid wiring in dependencies repeatedly. I would probably go with defining a utility class and indeed injecting it into every controller that needs it. I like the idea of having my utility methods clearly defined in one place. Any opinions here on the pros/cons?
I'm for using services to define whatever object used across controllers and other services. Using rootscope or scope inheritance is very tricky in AngularJS