My one question is... using this stop as a release, over time will it wear down where the stop engages the slide or damage the slide stop itself at all?
No, there will not be any damage. Yes, there will be some wear as the mating surfaces slide against each other. Usually this takes a long time, and if the releasing function becomes too slick, it is easily adjusted.
Slide stops are not difficult to understand. They work by tension and friction.
The tension is provided primarily by the recoil springs, which gradually wear over thousands of cycles. If an unloaded mag is in the gun the mag follower pushes the slide stop up under mag spring pressure adding tension. Mag springs also wear gradually after many cycles. Most people do not try to close a slide with an empty mag in the gun.
As well, the slide stop has its own spring that pushes the lever down to keep it disengaged. Finger pressure or a magazine follower will raise the lever, overcoming the minor tension of the stop spring.
Now, as to friction, the slide notch for the stop is machined with an angle and dimension that provide friction when mated with the differently machined surface of the stop. As most manufactured guns are first sold, these surfaces are rough and the stop will often actually have a sharp ridge on the mating surface. The factory will not bother to adjust the interface because it takes a little skill and time, which costs money. These standard machined surfaces often provide too much friction to use the stop lever as a release. Thus manufacturers say you should pull the slide back to eliminate friction and the slide stop will drop under its own spring tension. Then the slide will go forward under recoil spring tension.
This is the cheap and easy way to mass produce a gun and train the average person to always be able to release the slide stop. Follow the money.
If you buy a new custom semi-auto pistol, the slide stop will almost always be hand adjusted to lock the slide back and easily use the stop lever as a release. It is faster to do this because it requires much less movement than manually retracting the slide.
Polishing the mating surface of the slide stop, especially if it has a sharp machining ridge, will usually be enough to reduce friction and allow the use of the stop as a release. It will still lock the slide reliably. Wear of springs and mating surfaces over time may eventually get you to the same type of performance. Some new guns come from the factory with smooth enough mating surfaces, more by luck than intent, that you can use the stop as a release.
Conversely, if the friction is too slick, you can increase it simply by roughing up the stop lever mating surface with heavy grit wet/dry sandpaper, like 300 grit. Replacing worn recoil springs would probably produce the same result in an older used gun.
The point is, you can control how much friction you want and need to operate the slide stop as you desire.
Be aware, there are those who are slaves to the factory advice of always manually retracting the slide to get the lever to drop. They are usually very loud and adamant. Yet the professional competitors and experienced operators rarely use the manual method, although they train to be able to do it. There are numerous drawbacks (pun intended).
Having more than one way to close a slide is not a crime. Becoming proficient with a certain method and training to use another as backup is sensible. For the average dude doing average range shooting, which covers the majority of folks, retracting the slide per written factory instructions works well. But when speed really counts, it is a slow method that is not foolproof.
My stops are adjusted so they will auto-forward, the fastest way to close a slide on a newly inserted loaded mag. It works reliably for me. I use a finger release as my backup. However, knowing I may not be shooting one of my customized guns, I train for the over-the-top manual release also. No big deal.
Now you know enough to set your gun up the way you want to run it. Oh my!
