recommended way of dealing with scene object selection?

[Arcanor]

What is the recommended way of dealing with scene object selection?

If I use Unity's OnMouseOver(), OnMouseDown(), etc. then I don't know if there is any way you disable those events when the player is "supposed" to be interacting with a UI panel.

How do I keep my clicks EITHER in my gui panel, OR on scene objects?

[ArenMook]

You should not be using OnMouse events. You should be using NGUI events -- OnPress(bool isPressed) would be the equivalent.

As long as your camera drawing the objects has a UICamera script attached, all those objects will be capable of receiving those events.

[Arcanor]

Thanks, I will try adding UICamera to my main camera as you suggest.  Hadn't really considered that.