FREQ list_cats improvements/flexibility

list_cats (and the corresponding wp_list_cats) is to restrictive.

I want to be able to return the results as an array that can be traversed recursively or with a loop, depending on how the categories are set up and what theme is used.

It would also be nice to set the ul/li handling to work with h# and p instead.

This comes mainly after needing to get random subcategories for a sidebar. (see chsquotebook.com/0607/, may be moved to just chsquotebook.com in the coming week)

I’m willing to write code for this, but don’t know where to put it/what the interface should be.
do we need a whole new function?
turn it into a class?
whats the best approach?

Thank you,
–Mark