It's always scary doing it, because at the end of the day even a pair of aces is
just a pair of aces pre-flop. The reality is, you could go all-in pre-flop against 7-2os, and the flop could give them a boat. But then, who in their right mind is going to go all-in preflop with 7-2 - no one, except for someone pulling an extremely risky
bluff. So you know that going into it, they must have a strong hand, but if you hold pocket aces, you also know going into it that you have the stronger hand - and that's all you can do in poker is play your strongest
hands...well, okay there's
bluffing, too.
The thing is, poker is simply a game of implied
odds and the odds are that with a strong raise or going all-in with AA is going to be a highly profitable bet in the long run. Sure, you're going to hit some bad beats from time to time, but that's why you should be using good bank roll management to ensure you don't bet every last penny you have.
So yeah, if you're forced all-in preflop on AA, I think that's a good move to make and one that will pay off in the long run. Just don't put your entire life on the line with it. I've played long enough to see those types of pocket hands pay off, but I've also played them and experienced some crushing blows. But just because it doesn't work out (or works out very badly) one time has no merit that it's not going to be the smart move for the majority of the time.
But poker is a game of implied odds, and the odds are that if you have AA pre-flop, it's going to be the leader.