Good ideas here, and I really like the new scene. You are sort of restoring the original “lost cut”, and that’s great!
Regarding deleted scenes, agreed that Luke in the desert doesn’t work that well, but Tosche Station (repeats Luke on binoculars and lets us know that the battle is over/near their location - therefore the droids land near) and Biggs (setup for the reunion later on) would be good additions.
Another must for me is to (somehow) add the dialog bit mentioning “Sith Lord”, before Vader/Tarkin enter the meeting. Perhaps the dialog could be heard offscreen over an establishing shot of the meeting?