first answer.
Nope .. the tack strip is in and down steady. You will need a pry bar .. and some elbow grease. you can fill the holes in with putty .. and clean up the scratches with some old english .
Second answer.
Yeah .. have you tried some mineral spirits? Paint thinner?
Try that first.

Use a nail puller on the nail heads, pull them out of the strip instead of slipping something under the strip. Rangshank nails, they'll resist pulling.

Welcome supere,

Just an idea....Years ago we dealt with old tack strips on a beautiful hardwood floor. The holes left by tackstrips were about 1" or so in from the walls. We ended up using "brickmold" trim (which was wide enough to cover all nasty residual effects from the tack strips) and covered the brickmold with another layer of trim. We painted both one color--which was great-- but I've seen some more creative people put a stained wood trim layer between the brickmold and other trim--this can be really spectacular.

This probably wouldn't work in all applications (such as contemporary houses) because it kind of lends a "big" built-up look, but it was a great way to deal with our situation (more traditional home).

By the way, wear gloves when dealing with those tackstrips; you probably already figured this out. Good luck!