I always thought it would be neat to use a laser or high resolution scanner to image a record have a computer analyze it and convert the images to audio. Not sure if this has been done, but if not it would be cool to figure out.
There is indeed a way to use lasers to read 78s without touching the surface, and the gear is availble. Though probably not at a price most of us would like. Here's one example: https://www.elpj.com/
But after decades of work, they seem to have problems ... /Laser_turntable#Performance