What I would say, is that picks for bluegrass banjoists are compulsory, but not so for guitarist; that means banjoists can't give up on the picks but guitarists can ... and more often than not, do give up.
I feel that the music should inform how you play - and what you play with i.e. plec VS fingers, bare fingers VS fingerpicks.
Learning to play - really well - with all the tools available would,I feel, make a lot of sense.
I've spent a lot of time working on the hybrid technique ( plec plus fingers), and I'm convinced that developing that style is a great idea.
That tecnique tends to be associated with electric country guitarists e.g. Albert Lee, but who are the well known folkie acoustic players that use hybrid technique?