Should I screen swap or swap guts?

Hi all. I did the dreaded. Dropped note, dead pixels. Screens done.

Luckly, I work for a telecommunications company and got a note8 retail model to use for spares. Funny thing, this note8 retail model has an imei and bandbase, it reads SIM and grabs connection. Just can't remove the retail mode software as it is built into firmware.

So, the way I see it is, I have two options and need your opinion. Should I break down both phones and swap the retail note8 screen into my broken note8 or swap the guts (motherboard, etc) from my broken note8 into the retail model given it has all hardware needed for connection to network. I am very aware that removing screens can go horrifically so swapping the guts only is an appealing option.

Also, (probably should know the answer to this), if I swap the guts from broken to retail, will all my data move with the boards, (internal storage, pics, videos, contacts, etc).

All recommendations appreciated.