It can't do "Star Trek" one iota of harm.
If this movie tanks, all the fans who are horrified by the changes will have exactly what they have now in terms of "Star Trek" and they can congratulate one another on being right.
What they can't have is what they want from the studio. Not now, not next year, not ever...because the only people to whom that makes sense are a few million trekkies and their numbers are dwindling rather than growing.
Pehaps... but driving away the (according to you) few of Us left, may not be such a great thing either.
It can't hurt anything, where Trek movie and television production is concerned...because there is none.
It's not all that likely to negatively impact the declining merchandising revenues of the Franchise either, since there's been no directive (that we're aware of) demanding that all the comics and novelists and so forth march in lockstep with the new movie from this day forward. They can have it both ways: if the movie's a huge success everyone who licenses Trek will want to use its designs and continuity, and if it isn't then the licensees can continue to provide an alternative "safe haven" for what's left of fandom.
The risk here in changing everything for the movie is minimal and the
potential rewards considerable.