I have been very careful with every single phone I've ever owned. I can always sell all my cell phones on Ebay for top dollar because there are no scratches on them. I love everything about my 8700g except for the for the battery cover focusing all the weight of the phone on that middle raised line on the cover. Now it's all scratched up under the BB logo on the battery cover. I don't think the cheap paint helps anything either. Does anyone else have this problem?

maybe you should try and get a dummy phone?

hehe but your front screen is still clean! yeah it's the way the rear batt hatch is designed. but yeah, i think a dummy phone would be your best bet.
or go to a tmobile store and secretly swap out the model door with yours.
heheh jk.

Too funny LOL I actually did the same thing with my 7100t (which I still have as my backup phone) and my 7105t without going to the store. I am using the 7100t battery door on my 7105t because fighting with the OEM battery door of the 7105t makes hard resets a bit hard. Can't even tell I swapped doors because they are identical.

I know it's not the answer you're probably looking for but get a replacement door and a set of The Best Skins Ever or the Invisible Shield to protect it.

...there are also cradles available for the 8700's. That might help some too.

The cradles would only help at night. I'm talking about the normal placing of the phone on a table. I never drag it across the table. The Best Skins might be the only way to stop it.

I recently applied the BSE (full protection) to my device for this exact reason. So far, so good. With the skin on, the device will not slide around on a table anyways.