I recently completed a plugin to scatter objects over a surface and automatically setup LOD grouping.
I thought I would attached a demo vid of the plugin in case anyone might find it useful.
[vv]53998446[/vv]
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 (if you test it please let me know, so if it doesn't work I can fix it!).
I am looking to actively develop it, so any comments and criticisms would be welcomed.