Digital BW, The Print

So I can't tell you too much about which scanner to get or anything
like that. I have pretty good luck with a Canon 2710 filmscanner -
they're mighty cheap these days, so that might be an option for you.
My other scanner is a Canon 2400UF flatbed - it does _not_ do so well
for BW. We have an Epson 2450 at the school I teach at, it seems to do
pretty well with BW and color, but not as well as a dedicated filmscanner.

As for "cheating" - it's the image and the print that matters, not the
steps that get you there. If you can make the best image by shooting
velvia and converting to bw, do it! :)

I do think that "real" bw films have more detail and better grain than
color stuff, but that's just my opinion.