If you enable digests it’s up to users to decide if they want immediate notification or digests… The select in their profile.. The is an admin option to force digests on all but it’s not the default..
Subscriptions, including digests, are designed for users… The Admin notifications are designed for admins and mods but you are correct it’s individual emails only.. Since subscriptions usage is controlled by permission, you could of course not allow users to use and limit it to admins and mods…
Correct, only place for mods to change notification settings is in wp admin… But this does not give them any other access to wp admin pages they wouldn’t have access too… Their wp capabilities still control access…
Sorry, not sure what you mean by xnull message…