I like my Xbox Elite controller a lot, but the paddles have nothing to do with it. The real value for me is the fact that you can reprogram ANY button all over the controller, which is very useful for some games that have limited control scheme options (or none at all). Honestly, I don't know why modern consoles don't just allow full button re-mapping at the system level. I can't imagine it'd be particularly difficult.
I think paddles are the start of a good idea, but haven't been fully realized yet. Yes, it would be good to have something for your middle fingers to do beyond just grip, but I don't want the buttons/paddles resting right under my fingers the whole time, because they're still gonna grip and press down often. I wish these auxiliary buttons/paddles/levers/whatever would bit in places near your middle fingers, where they give inputs by moving AWAY from their natural resting locations. As a gamer that prefers using controllers (even on PC!), that just makes the most sense to me. If Playstation wants to add auxiliary programable buttons, great, but I wish they'd try something different than paddles under the fingers' existing grip area.