No, you can keep bears away - by not ATTRACTING them.
Don't leave garbage out, don't fill your birdfeeders, don't leave food out, and clean up any fruit that falls from trees, and you remove any reason for bears to visit you.
Garbage is the #1 reason bears are visiting your neighborhood.
Don't fill your birdfeeders? I guess that should be, don't have birdfeeders because what's the point of having them if they're empty? I'll never give up my birdfeeders. But i don't worry about bears, my yard is fenced in with a huge Rott standing guard 24/7.