cleaning head, scratches ok?

[pac00t]

After bending a valve I decided I ought to clean the head out, and it has quite a bit of carbon... a ton actually in the exhaust ports. Anyway, I got these brass brushes that go on the end of a drill. They sure take the carbon off well, but I only worked on one cylinder because I saw they were scratching the aluminum. They really smear the surface with lots of little scratches. I called my local bike shop and they said that's fine if you get those little scratches using a wire brush. They then polish up the gasket surface with a scotchbright thingy.

What do you guys recommend, as far as cleaning the chamber surfaces/gasket surface/ports?
Thanks

[RUSH]

clean it. you should be careful of the valve seats and the gasket mating surface but the rest should be fine.