Yes—at least for AF point selection, you don’t need a half-press. On the 60D you can enter AF-point selection directly with the AF point selection button on the back, or use the Q menu to choose the focus point.

For exposure compensation, the camera meter must be active because compensation is applied relative to a meter reading. That’s why a half-press often seems required: it wakes the meter.

If you want to avoid tying this to the shutter button, use the camera’s custom controls to separate metering and autofocus from the shutter release. A common setup is back-button focus: assign AF to AF-ON and metering to another button (often the * button), leaving the shutter button just for taking the shot. That won’t eliminate the need for the meter to be awake when setting exposure compensation, but it does let you avoid using the half-press for both focus and metering together.