Exposing NetSuite Preference Settings

I have so many situations where I need to access settings provided for in general NetSuite preference records (e.g. webstore, sales lists, accounting lists, etc). Additionally, have been asking for access to some general default lists such as 'Countries' and 'States' (for use when building dynamic UI fields for example).

Here are some use cases:
1. Customer Center form: need to add a drop down for countries and states. the Countries field also needs to be filtered to only show countries allowed to buy in the webstore.
Options:
a) Create a custom list field and identify it as 'Countries' and set a filter option to match only 'webstore countries' (what I have set in the Website Setup > Shopping > Countries Web Store Ships To multi-select list). this use case would further allow me to create a custom list field identified as 'States' and link it the custom list field 'Countries' so that when I change Country, it loads the appropriate States list (or empties for non-state Countries).