Yes, if you only use roughing passes with an upcut which have a roughing clearance greater than the defect which they are likely to cause.
I use downcut on wood almost exclusively.
The only uses I make for an upcut in wood is if there is a roughing pass as described above (not very often), or if there are a bunch of tool changes, and if I can set up a final pocketing pass which cuts only the bottom of a pocket which was standing free as an island (usually only a pocket which had a surrounding contour toolpath with a ball-nosed tool to create a rounded edge):
