Well, Komuna was a major player in the development of ECP and it would surprise me if Spinor didn't get a credit there also. However 2003 is long ago and progress doesn't always happen in the direction you'd expect.
I don't think the 'sort into bushes, trees and roads' aspect survived, but ECP has a 'nearest object search' function (pdf readme page 18). Which in turn sounds similar to
Improved Nearest Object by Fragorl.
With a bit of care mission-makers can hide most AI deficiencies - not having enemies only in Safe mode being the most obvious. That said, getting groups to work in concert is still a job for scripting. MapFact are darned good scripters, but I don't recall seeing any reviews of their
AI Addon in English. Might be worth a look; I believe it's bi-lingual (German & English).