I used to work for a company that made brass hardware; maybe the stuff you are now complaining about. Part of my duties were dealing with complaints. The written ones were easy; I would just explain that brass is soft material. That is why we instructed the user to drill pilot holes and wax the screws before installation. The telephone calls were more difficult. They demanded we pay them for all of their work and labor. They demanded to speak to our president. They demanded we supply steel screws rather than brass. They demanded that we stop using defective screws. They demanded we use domestic screws rather than imported screws. After a year of that I decided maybe I ought to look into it, rather that take purchasing's word for it that there was nothing wrong with the screws. I took hundreds of screws, from #0 to #4, and from as many different shipments as I could find, and put them into oak and pine. With and without pilot screws. With and without pilot holes, with and without wax, with a power driver and by hand. The results were that the 0s and 1s would break if I didn't do everything just right. However, I couldn't get a single screw to break if I did it properly. The larger screws rarely broke in pine even if simply screwed in, but oak required pilot holes. I did this every few years, again with hundreds of screws, just to make sure nothing changed. I never got a screw to break unless I tried to cut corners.
I have no axe to grind here; I am completely and permanently out of the business; I don't even own their stock. Thems the facts.
Brass screws are used because it is simply inappropriate to use steel screws with brass hardware. You might think it is better, but I am certain the complaints would go up by a factor of 10 if anyone did that. If you think I am wrong about that, then organize a letter writing campaign to inundate the hinge companies. Certainly they will do what the public wants, but I will be surprised if you get 100 people to demand steel. BTW, brass screws cost about 3X what brass plated steel screws do; both because of the material cost, and because the screw companies probably run
1000x as many steel as brass and scale is important. I expect the companies would be delighted to change if it cut down on complaints and saved money!
The idea of using a steel screw to tap the hole first is a good one. I actually included a steel screw with our kickplates with instructions to use it for that purpose. (We tested brass plated stainless steel screws, but the galvanic reaction was really nasty. Oh, don't get me started on galvanic reactions between brass kickplates and steel doors...)