Even if one didnt explicitly use the skill challenge mechanics reading the guidance surrounding them is also soundly pointing out what the game is about (Skill challenges are mentioned a large number of times in the DMGs especially I think DMG2).
Skill challenges at their base provided a mechanic foundation for adventuring that may never have to involve combat if you wanted and established expectations associated with skill use (and should be considered whether you used the structure or not). Arcana skill is even used to alter rituals making the open ended even more flexible.
For instance reading the skill challenge rules and flanking elements of the guidelines, very much shows how important and big skills are meant to be in 4e they are very much as big as class utilities/spells/rituals. That was demonstrated other places too with the empowered effects in skills off the bat (acrobatics that reduces falling damage for instance) and further with skill powers directly swappable with utility powers.
Further 4e started out with quite a few rituals and by the end the number is positively huge not to mention Martial Practices another element focused on "not combat".
The omg "its all combat" must have not read the DMGs at all (and probably ignored rituals too.)
Here's an illustration of the kind of flexibility that is inherent in 4e's overall system.
The PCs were exploring an ancient lost dwarven city, and they ran into a big problem. All the various ducts and whatnot that ran around the place were infested with Jermlaine! In case you don't know, these are nasty little 1 foot tall humanoids, kind of 'mini kobolds' you could say, stealing and ambushing and then running away. So the party was never safe, and it was a big problem, they couldn't rest, would suddenly get tripped or their gear would be damaged, etc. even in the midst of a fight!
So, the wizard had Stinking Cloud, a daily power, but it is obviously not possible to cast it down into a bunch of ducts and whatnot where you can't really see, etc. It needs LoS and has a pretty limited range. So, her solution was to INVENT A RITUAL, as a skill challenge, and use it to create a 'Fumigation Ritual' that would pour poison gas down into these areas and drive out/kill the Jermlaine. This had to be repeated now and then, and required some checks and resources to cast, but it added a useful tool to her repertoire. Later she was able to trade this knowledge to some other people and thus it also became basically a treasure parcel.
I mean, yes, you COULD play this sort of thing out in a similar way in other editions. I'm not sure how that would be framed in 5e, I haven't really read all the magic item and spell research rules and whatnot. In 1e it would never have been possible as-written without some long and arduous task of great expense and entirely uncertain GM determined results. 2e seems even MORE bound and determined to make this stuff hard, advising that any such course of action must require strange and virtually impossible to obtain ingredients, etc. It might work in 3e, but who knows how easy or difficult the GM would make it? In 4e it was pretty clearly delineated, and my logic was it was a complexity 3 challenge, since in terms of absolute threat the Jermlaine were fairly weak monsters. It might have warranted more, but then narratively the scope of action for the challenge is kind of limited, its just magical research and such, and some improvising. So, the GM is going to have a place in deciding likelihood of success, but it is set up right up front at the start, and amenable to negotiation. Since the PCs didn't want to go back to town, some of the checks were hard for instance whereas in town they could have spent gold to access some books instead.
It is a really excellent system for this kind of stuff and this was the first D&D where I really saw much of it happening.