Sure! SMD can be desoldered with a heat gun!
You'll likely loosen nearby SMD components too, so don't bump the board.
I've done it with the heat gun on bottom and have done it with the heat gun on top. There's something of a danger of burning the board with it on bottom, but little danger of burning components.
Components, even ICs, are not rated for repeated exposure to the high temps of soldering air, esp not the typically inaccurate overexposure used with a heat gun. But, it works. Note that some components like capacitors, IC sockets, sensors, and WIRES may have a plastic coating or body which will be badly melted by the hot air. It's not readily avoidable.
Note that MANY chips have DIP versions already available. You can develop with DIP while putting SMD on the production board. I don't, though. SMD isn't hard to work with. In fact I find popping SMD stuff on and off to be pretty darn easy now.