I definitely do not see this as an urgent change, we lock out badge sql anyway out-of-the-box. However I do see this as something I would like to get to eventually.
It is a simple generalization of the “automatic group” system that now exists.
This does simplify workflows as well, you can grant a badge to a user and then you do not need to go to the group and also grant membership. For example: “Customer champion” badge that grants access to “champions” group and “champion discussion” category on the site. Having the bridge also means you only need to remove membership in 1 spot to have both badge and group change.
Nothing urgent to change here, its just that there are tons of parallels between groups and badges so having a bridge helps get automatic feature parity on both sides.