Two aspects of the contribution of grazing incidence fast atom diffraction (GIFAD) to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are reviewed here: the ability of GIFAD to provide in-situ a precise description of the atomic-scale surface topology, and its ability to follow larger-scale changes in surface roughness during layer-by-layer growth. Recent experimental and theoretical results obtained for the He atom beam incident along the highly corrugated [110] direction of the beta(2)(2 x 4) reconstructed GaAs(001) surface are summarized. We also discuss the measurements and calculations for the beam incidence along the weakly corrugated [010] direction where a periodicity twice smaller than expected is observed. The combination of the experiment, quantum scattering matrix calculations, and semiclassical analysis allows structural characteristics of the surface to be revealed. For the in situ measurements of GIFAD during molecular beam epitaxy of GaAs on GaAs surface we analyze the change in elastic and inelastic contributions in the scattered beam, and the variation of the diffraction pattern in polar angle scattering. This analysis outlines the robustness, the simplicity and the richness of the GIFAD as a technique to monitor the layer-by-layer epitaxial growth. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.