re “a)” - I have managed to repair ST development boards where the micro usb connector was torn off. It looks crude but can be made to work.
re “b)” - Wow - interesting use case - you could have a ‘library’ of Daisy Seeds available! Of course at some point the Computer becomes a more practical approach. But if you take the multiple pre-programmed seed approach you could also replace the Patch socket with a ‘Zero Insertion Force’ which PJ_Noxon found in this thread: