The answer to the original question is they work together about as well as you want them to.
I'm a SMaRT online volunteer who completed the facilitator training and have been using SMaRT recovery online for 15+ years.
I know folks with years of happy sobriety in SMaRT that despise AA.
I know folks with years of happy sobriety in SMaRT who have a home group and sponsor people using the 12 steps
Now are either of those people doing it wrong lol?
Recovery is a personal journey.
If I were to explain how these programs are far from polar opposites I would be telling you how MY recovery works. That would be helpful to probably 50% of the people who read it
I could ask a fellow veteran smartie to come here and tell you how the programs are mutually exclusive polar opposites and guess what? That's his recovery and would be helpful to about 50% of the people who read it.
The point is, no matter how many years I have, I am only qualified to give an option on how it works for me.
I think the first question is do you want recovery?
If the answer is yes there is no right way of doing it. If you are sober and happy about it you are doing it right.
If you encounter someone from ANY program that says theirs is the only way, close-mindedness is part of their recovery. I've never met a person in AA or SMaRT that has the type of recovery I want and be close minded at the same time.
So yeah they can work together, but only if you want them to.
And I do wish Jon the founder of this place was here to read this reply. He'd probably not believe it came from me lol