The article doesn’t go into it, but a key advantage they have is that heat pumps move heat, rather then trying to generate it. So they can move a lot more heat into your house than would be generated by running the electricity they use through a resistor. This makes them effectively more than 100% efficient (the exact amount depends on temperature) as compared with burning a fuel or resistive heat.
Heat Pumps are just Air Conditioners with a reversing valve. They’re not some special magic.
Increasingly, they also tend to have variable-speed compressors, which offer further efficiency benefits. I think the distinction between A/C and heat pump is useful for consumers.