I have a Hampton Bay ceiling fan with remote. Will it harm the receiver if I use the remote only for the fan and use the power switch to operate the light?

No harm done.

The power switch will kill power to the whole fan/light assembly. You can only separate the fan and light if two switch legs are run to the fan, or if you have one switch leg and one constant feed.
Then you can use a remote for the fan and use a wall switch for the light.