Mazers often skip heating the must to preserve delicate flavor and aroma. But it's not as risky as it may seem. Undiluted honey is shelf stable and can't support wildlife. Mix it with clean water in a sanitized vessel, it's clean. Inoculate with a healthy pitch and the Sacc will keep it clean.
Staying away from nutrition to prevent a stuck ferment is plain ol' backward. A proper science-driven nutrition protocol will encourage a full ferment.
Your experience with honey ale and cider is important, but unrelated. The wort had tons of nutrition. The cider a little less so, but still present. Honey has nothing in it too keep those yeast fed. It's a different beast.
The link shared by Miraculix in #7 is what I've used for all my meads so far. Two trad, three short. All successfully fermented to dry and delicious. The shorts are fed all upfront and need no degassing if you don't feel like it. A quick yet gentle 15-second swirl is all you need if you do.
But you've got a plan. Go with it. See what happens.
Mead more process driven than beer?! Not so much. I make mead between beer batches because it's so darn easy.
ETA: When I lived in Pheonix, Costco's Raw Desert Wildflower was my go-to honey. I use honey in place of sugar nearly everywhere, coffee too. I bet that honey would make a delicious mead. Slightly spicy.