This is one of the best posts I've ever seen on Pinside. You had an original board that looked plenty toasted that many would have said to scrap or assumed couldn't be fixed. You listed potential display alternatives you were considering and your observations on them, with a few very specific questions about them. That info is enough for anyone in a similar situation to make an informed decision about replacement boards much faster than trying to figure it out on their own, you've already presented a solution for the problem.

Then you took it further and decided to go for the repair, and you pulled it off, and fixed the original burnt component, which then revealed the real culprit that caused the first component to go out, fixed that and now you have a working original display. You've proven that a board with bad traces can be repaired to working condition. The pics and info and the methods you used are very well detailed.

A+++ would read again. I almost feel like I'm not even on Pinside right now, there's not even a single insult thrown at anyone in the responses by anyone who participated either.