Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[Calgacus]

So might it be even faintly safe to speculate upon the concept, more people "outside" the Highlands of modern, industrial, internet-cell-phone-ing, jeans, tees, athletic shoes, cable TV, tabloids, workaday earnest living...

..."not-interested in traditions / clans, et al," Highland Scotland...

...are interested in "old Scottish culture and history and allure of the kilt and its accoutrements," than "the real, modern" Highland Scots?

Difficult questions, but I'll have a go. Yes. At least numerically speaking. The population of the highlands is a fraction of that of Scotland, which in turn is a fraction of that of the diaspora, so there are almost certainly more people interested in traditions/clans/etc outside of the highlands than in the highlands.

If you mean proportionally, then it's much harder to answer. The highlander, and more generally the Scot, are to some extent steeped in our history, culture and traditions, despite the lack of actual education about them. The 'interest' is there just the same, but I think it takes a different form as a result. taking an interest in such things here takes a lot less 'deliberate effort' than it might do outside of Scotland. For example, I've noticed that highlanders quite frequently mention their ancestors and know who they are, compared to lowlanders. I'm sure if asked that they would not say they were any more interested in genealogical research than the next guy, but it's a part of the culture so it just happens.

Just to complicate matters, a counter example is to tell you that there are some Scots who actively shun many aspects of Scottish culture such as tartan, haggis or bagpipes in the (to my mind) mistaken belief that it is backwards and/or incompatible with a modern 21st century Scotland.

If so, dare the genuinely-interested but not genuine...

...ponder, if the or a metaphorical "torch" of sort has been passed to them (or picked up, "discarded")...largely by default?

Yes... and no. The torch certainly hasn't been dropped, though it may have flickered and guttered occasionally. Scottish culture is alive and well, if diluted somewhat by UK culture, and even more so by US culture.

What is, I think, undervalued is the contribution made by the diaspora, and especially by Canadians in preserving Scottish and more specifically highland culture. There are aspects of language and music which have been better preserved, quite frankly, by Canadians than by the Scots themselves. I'm not denigrating Scots for failing to preserve such things, there have been huge external pressures at work in the past, and even now, working against the preservation of such things.

PLEASE forgive any potential offense; NONE meant.

None taken. Valid questions, I'd say.