Possession is only useful against things that are astrally active.
So that can mean:
[1.]Possessing the Hell-hound/Bogie/Cockatrice/whatever.
[2.]Have your spirit/elemental/watchers/ally attack the enemy mage's focus, while hovering behind him with a held action to sucker punch him as soon as he astrally percieves to engage the spirit.
[3.]It's an especially annoying way to discourage the 'Dual-Natured' surge effect.
[4.]The teammates of the possessed enemy might not know that he's possessed. It's a great way to get insider information on the team. "Hey guys, what's the name of the scientist we're after again?" or get the drop on them "Can I see your assualt cannon for a second?" or "Oops, I accidentally tripped the switch on our 10 pounds of CXII."
[5.]Even after you turn hostile, the host's teammates may be reluctant to fight their friend.
[6.]Physical damage inflicted on the host stays with the host after you leave.
[7.]Just because the possession contest has to be single combat doesn't mean you can't have a half dozen astral weenies gang-bang him down to 9 boxes of stun before you start.
Unless you've got really high willpower to soak the deadly drain, and really high sorcery [or HtH] to knock your opponent out before he can turn off astral perception, it's probably not that great a power. Might be good for astral munchkins like projecting drakes, though.