Currently I'm using a Windows batch file to build my software. It does things like running MSBuild, copying files, creating a ZIP file, running some tests, including the subversion revision number, etc.
But the problem is, batch files are evil. So I would like to change to something better. I was planning to recreate my build script in Python. Is that a smart choice? What about all those build systems, like Ant, SCons, Maven, Rake, etc. Would using any of those be a better choice?
Note: I'm not planning to replace my Visual Studio solution/project files. I only want to script everything else that's required to create a release of my software.
Edit: I have good reasons to move away from batch, that's not what my question is about. I would like to know (for example) what SCons gives me, over a normal Python script.
You can create custom makefiles for Microsoft nmake tool which you already have installed. Using a tool like that (SCons, Maven, etc. fall into the same category) gives you much more than regular scripts. 
The main benefit is that dependencies between files are tracked and also the timestamps of changes. For example, you can make your .zip file depend on some other files, so .zip only gets repacked if some of those files have changed in the meantime. Just like with source code and its compiled form.
Is Python the right hammer for this nail? (build script)