Youtube provides the option to "Play On TV" which from what I can tell, seems to bypass the ads. Surfing to a video with my browser while having my smart TV running its youtube app, then selecting the "Play On TV" icon in the overlay causes only the video to be played. There are never any ads before, after, or during playback.
From that point, I can control the playback from the browser or with the TV remote. I can even close the browser window and still continue to watch the video on the TV.
They'll probably fix this loophole eventually, but it makes watching much more enjoyable for now.