Some scanners need ICE more than others. I see ICE as something that addresses a flaw in the scanner design, not necessarily as a wonderful feature.
A scanner with a diffuse light source (like the Poloaroid SprintScan models, which I am a big fan of) tends to scan the image within the film and not the surface of the film itself. While dust is still a problem, scratches and other defects in the film don't cause a lot of grief. As long as I blow off my film with canned air before scanning, I have very little that I need to worry about.
The Nikon scanners and other models with harsh light sources tend to see every scuff, irregularity and tiny scratch in the film surface, which is why these models must include ICE just to make them practical to use.
Keep in mind that using ICE will degrade your image slightly and makes the scanning process longer, but the tradeoff is probably worth it, depending on what the surface of your film looks like. I prefer to manually remove the occasional dust spot than to use ICE.
- Paul