I'm trying to think of a scenario where a users hits Open and picks a directory but does not want the software to have access to the contents of that directory. If you don't want it to access a folder, then don't open a folder in it.

This behavior gets used all the time in things like opening a folder in your IDE so it can access the whole project.

The OS does allow file pickers that can only pick files and not directories (set canChooseDirectories = false), and if an app has no legitimate reason to need a directory they should do that, but the fact that you can grant permissions isn't the problem. What they need to fix is that you're granting permanent permissions with no indication that you've done it and no way to remove them.

To anyone at Apple reading this - please do not draw the conclusion "permissions to access a previously opened file or folder should expire after 24 hours" there are already more than enough permission prompts.