tsql - SQL Server: What are batching statements (i.e. using "GO") good for?

Question

I know that in SQL Server GO is considered a batch separator.

My question is: What is the point of having a batch separator? What benefit does it give you and why would you want to use it?

Example: I've often seen it used in SQL code as follows and I can't see why it would be considered a best practice. As far as I can tell the code would the same without all the GO statements:

USE AdventureWorks2012;
GO
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
GO
IF @@TRANCOUNT = 0
BEGIN
    SELECT FirstName, MiddleName 
    FROM Person.Person WHERE LastName = 'Adams';
    ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
    PRINT N'Rolling back the transaction two times would cause an error.';
END;
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
PRINT N'Rolled back the transaction.';
GO

(source: technet documentation):

Answer 1

In the example there it is of no use whatsoever.

Lots of statements must be the only ones in the batch however.

Such as CREATE PROCEDURE.

Also often after making schema changes (e.g. adding a new column to an existing table) statements using the new schema must be compiled separately in a different batch.

Generally an alternative to submitting separate batches separated by GO is to execute the SQL in a child batch using EXEC