Finds all the empty groups in a Maya scene

get_empty_groups.py

import pymel.core as pm

def get_shape_nodes(node, intermediate=False):
    if pm.nodeType(node) == "transform":
        shape_nodes = pm.listRelatives(node, shapes=True, path=True)

        found_shape_nodes = []

        if shape_nodes is None:
            return None

        for shape_node in shape_nodes:
            is_intermediate = pm.getAttr("%s.intermediateObject" % shape_node)

            if intermediate == True and is_intermediate and pm.listConnections(shape_node, source=False):
                return shape_node

            elif intermediate == False and not is_intermediate:
                found_shape_nodes.append(shape_node)

        if len(found_shape_nodes) > 0:
            return found_shape_nodes

    elif pm.nodeType(node) in ["mesh", "nurbsCurve", "nurbsSurface"]:
        return [pm.PyNode(node)]

    return None

  
def is_group(node):
    node = pm.PyNode(node)

    if not pm.objectType(node) == "transform":
        return False

    try:
        children = node.getChildren()
    except:
        return False

    if get_shape_nodes(node):
        return False

    return True

def is_empty_group(group_node, include_empty_child_groups=True):
    is_empty = True
    group_node = pm.PyNode(group_node)

    if not is_group(group_node):
        return False
    
    if include_empty_child_groups:
        try:
            for child in group_node.getChildren():
                if not is_group(child):
                    is_empty = False
                    break
                else:
                    is_empty = is_empty_group(child)
        except:
            pass
        finally:
            return is_empty
    else:
        if len(group_node.getChildren()) == 0:
            return True
        return False

      
empty_groups = [node for node in pm.ls() if is_empty_group(node)]