No reason you can’t do both. 
And actually this was not the primary problemsolver thread for people who had the dual logo system. This was a thread to discuss whether ADT was dropping support and got a lot of attention from people who have been considering buying the system, but not necessarily from those who already had it.
Instead, the following threads will probably get you better answers. Or, again, start your own with a specific question.
As far as using the custom built ADT tools smartapp and other automation questions, try this:
As to whether you get any additional features if you purchase monitoring other than the alerts themselves, I believe the only addition is being able to use the canopy portal:
And when it comes to getting responses from people who are currently using the product, I would suggest using the discussion thread you posted to about a year ago.
ADT partnership: ST-ADT touchscreen hub and devices (discussion thread)