TWAIN was not limited by PhotoShop, native (and naive) MS application "Scan & Fax" supported it too, and many other raster editors and document organizing applications too.
Also, TWAIN is not Windows-specific! It is (was?) supported on Windows, Linux and macOS. It was not invented by MS or Adobe, but by working group where MS and Adobe doesn't present!
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I remember there were free TWAIN hosts that allowed you to use scanner plugins without Photoshop. Could be worth a look.
TWAIN was not limited by PhotoShop, native (and naive) MS application "Scan & Fax" supported it too, and many other raster editors and document organizing applications too.
Also, TWAIN is not Windows-specific! It is (was?) supported on Windows, Linux and macOS. It was not invented by MS or Adobe, but by working group where MS and Adobe doesn't present!