We seem to be talking about different things. You mention deep snow and mud where the need is to maintain traction and momentum. Already rotating on ice, probably due to excessive speed and power on an icy turn, is a completely different thing. I have also had racing experience but the average driver has to rely on emergency reactions which will keep him/her out of worsening a spin in a wider set of circumstances than on the track.

I will repeat for your rebuttal: conditioning one's reaction to an emergency by stepping on the gas could lead to a catastrophe when conditions and the circumstances call for the exact opposite. Unlike Yannis, my concern is not whether his and your method is easy,or will work in some cases, it is what is generally prudent to do when the brain does not have the time to decide whether it is appropriate.

But out of curiosity, what would you do in the following situation: you are turning into a shopping center parking lot when the rear wheels lose lateral grip on a patch of ice and the rear end starts to slide (oversteer). Other cars are ahead and also leaving the lot. If you tweak the gas to attempt grip, as you claim, initially the car will not squat because there is no rear grip yet. The engine rpm will go up more than desirable and the front wheels may well lose any adhesion they had. The momentum of the car will keep the car rotating. The rear wheels then make contact with a non-icy patch and suddenly grab. But the car is rotating, not in a controlled drift, and may well shoot off unpredictably. Murphy's Law will provide another car in the vicinity that is in the path of your now accelerating car which you expected to be going in a different direction if the ice and grip had been uniform. Now, where do your physics of achieving rear wheel grip and your concept of using gas in an emergency provide a credible explanation for your insurance company? A far fetched example? Try this: you are in a convoy of cars on a wet road when the cars ahead seem to suddenly brake and you instinctively fear you will rear end the car in front. Whatever novice or advanced avoidance attempt that you invoke, none call for hitting the accelerator. I fear that if you are conditioned to immediately apply more gas to maintain control, you may well do it at some point in this situation and other emergencies requiring split second reflexes. The issue is not what is possible, but what is generally prudent and potentially the safest - unlike, for example, in a timed stage of a professional car rally in winter where the risk may be acceptable and the reflexes of the professional driver are finely tuned.

Sorry to be so wordy but I do think that Yannis's advice needs some moderation for the non-expert driver on ice.