Lived in western MD with occasional 3 foot snowstorms and had two houses with two different setups.
A Sears walk behind with tracks. Worked great in the heaviest snows, you could float it up on the snow and do a high pass, then a lower pass to finish. You wrestle the unit to turn it a bit though. It has enough traction I use it to move cars in and out of my shop in summer.
Other house had a John Deere vtwin tractor with a blower. Only reason to do that is huge driveways and time. Big storage space and having to ness with putting it on and taking it off seasonally. Was great to have when the big driveway needed clearing every day . Don't see the need for many residential driveways though. The drive I was clearing with that had a hill and had to have room to turn around cars.
If you won't be dealing with more than six inches, wheels, if more than six inches with some frequency or you have hills, tracks. Huge space to clear, tractor mount. (Think if the driveway was the only area of grass you had to mow, do you shudder at push mowing it?)
I would not get a lawn tractor just for a snowblower. If you need a lawn tractor anyway, then it absolutely makes sense to get a blower attachment. Tons of power compared to a walk behind, simplicity of driving around instead of slipping on the ice and snow, and reduces the superfluous number of gas-powered equipment in your garage.
I have a JD x485 with a 42" (I think) blower. With chains on the tires I have no traction trouble on a steep paved driveway. And MAN DOES IT THROW. I took out a window with just fresh powder because I wasn't paying attention. But, we need a lawn tractor for mowing, wood hauling, tilling, etc. It made sense.
In the past I've had some 2-stage walk behind blowers that I liked. I had an MTD/Toro with a 6.5hp Tecumseh that really worked well. In this realm of power equipment, I strongly recommend either going older or going high-dollar. Don't fall for the cheaper prices at big hardware stores. As a former HD employee who did a lot of buying for the company, the big box stores have massive presence, and brands fight to get into the big box stores for the lowest bid. This means that the Toro or Ariens you buy at a big box store was assembled by a subcontractor using the cheapest possible parts. Stamped steel gearboxes, plastic gears, chinese motors (which aren't bad, but the carbs are terrible). Newer models (particularly mid 2000s and up) had to comply with new EPA regulations. The carbs are made with pot metal, cheap alloys, and are made to run very lean. Letting one sit with fuel in it means you'll be tearing the carb apart every December in the freezing cold trying to get it to run. Older stuff on the other hand will often times burn castor oil, varnished gasoline, or maple syrup. Seriously. I don't buy ethanol free gas, I don't use stablizer, and all of my old junk runs like a dream. I have a 1973 Bolens that hasn't been run for 5 years. Just a few weeks ago I charged the battery and it fired up like it was yesterday. The exhaust smelled like cotton candy, the fuel was so old.
Many of the pictured 2-stage walk behinds I think are your go-to. Reliable, plenty strong, and they'll do really well. If you want a cab, they sell clear plastic "cabs" that attach to the handlebars. Really handy on a windy day.
If you have a gravel driveway (TL;DR) buy about 5 lbs of shear pins. Depending on the gravel you have (how compacted it is, size of the gravel, etc) you might go through 5 shear pins in a single outing or you might not break a single one.
