Photoshop crashes when selecting File / Automate / Batch

Question

Photoshop users still need a fix for Photoshop crashing whenever they select Batch.
I understand that Adobe staff has chosen to blame scanner drivers for the problem. And, I've read the discussions thru last year (very long and boring when all you want is a fix). But, I'm not settled on several things which do not add-up.
First, I'll review the symptoms for the sake of all interested readers. Photoshop users have reported Photoshop crashing whenever they select File / Automate / Batch from the menu for years. This problem got much worse (widespread) since the release of version 12.0.4. The problem apparently affects only those with Train compatible scanners and who installed Adobe's optional Twain plugin. I never read how anyone came to this conclusion, but scanner drivers are being blamed. The accepted work-around is to disable or remove Adobe's Twain plugin.
Second, I want to point out that Photoshop works normally when using the Twain plugin. I can scan images and they are imported directly into Photoshop without any problems. This was the case before the 12.0.4 update and is still the case now.
Third, I want to pose my most pressing question. What does selecting "Batch..." have to do with scanner drivers? In other words, what possibly could Photoshop be doing with scanner drivers when selecting "Batch..." that it does not do when actually does use the drivers?
Lastly, I'll point out that I am a software developer of over 30 years. So, I understand how it might somehow work out in the details that the source of the problem really is buggy scanner drivers. However, as a programmer with a lot of experience dealing with problems common in device driver API's, I know that good practice is to expect anything. If Photoshop begins a process that calls out to someone else's software API, it should cushion that call with proper exception error handling. All processes should execute with an "if all else fails" contention.

Answer 1

>> What does selecting "Batch..." have to do with scanner drivers?
When running the actions for the Batch command, Photoshop updates it's menu/command state to check which commands are enabled or disabled based on the document state being changed by the actions.  Part of that update is calling the scanner interface to see what is available or not, and at that point some drivers crash.  Since the crash occurs in third party code executed within Photoshop's context - there was not much Photoshop could do to recover (there was exception handling, but it couldn't work across OS and DLL boundaries).
In Photoshop CS6, we spent quite a bit of time figuring out why they were crashing (apparently there was some assumption about the application GUI state), and how we could avoid them crashing in those circumstances - and now CS6 avoids the crashes in the Batch command even with the TWAIN plugin and drivers are loaded.