You're right. These alleged scoring changes change nothing. Whether you think of it as a process of losing points for screwing up or gaining points for doing good things it's still a subjective decision by the "expert" as to who did the best job. If there were a mechanical way of just totalling up the points there would be no need for expert judges in the first place.
As to ignoring half of the judges' decisions, this introduces far more problems than it purports to solve. This means that you can be ranked 2nd by 10 of the 14 judges and still win the gold if you're lucky enough to have your 4 judges make the live panel. Imagine the outrage that will ensue the first time this happens. In their panic to cover up the event fixing, the IOC has opened themselves up to a host of unintended consequences. It will be a delight to watch the compounding of IOC miseries in succeeding olympics.
The solution is easy: quit pretending that these judged events are sport. Recognize them for what they are, entertainment. Set up an entertainment division, market the stuff like crazy, and watch the TV ratings and revenue roll in. Let diving and figure skating pay the bill for track and field, boxing, etc.