Craft:
To some degree polymorph any object. getting duration permanent by changing a stone to a statue, or iron filings into an iron sword works fine. You Can't make anything valuable though,
Most such spells call for a Craft check to make anything of quality. For the ones that don't, most DM's add that requirement anyway.
Polymorph any object (looks like cheese, but) there are no rules on how well you can copy something. Paper changed to paper with writing on it that perfectly duplicates documents, has duration permanent, the same with seals, wax, signatures, and just about anything else you want. Unless your DM rules its of intrinsic value.
Same thing as was said for Craft.
Ghost sound: a lions roar travels for 6 miles. You can use ghost sound to make sound as loud as a lions roar. You can use ghost sound to transmit your voice 6 miles. If you shout offering 5 or so silver pieces, and telling the people you will use zone of truth to identify what they are saying, you would get plenty of information, very easy to mess with. Lacks subtlety
A lion's roar travels for miles, across an open plain. Far less if there are walls in the way. Additionally, the spell specifically says that you can't make intelligible speech, so this plan is a no-go from the start. Perhaps
Amplify is more what you're looking for. It reduces the Listen check for all by 20, which essentially adds 200 feet to the audible range.
Perform: It says spells can be used instead of regular performances, so to a lesser degree illusions, or anything with duration concentration could be used for this purpose, though your more likely to get a +2 from spell craft than actually convince your DM to let you substitute spell craft for perform.
Anyone can make pretty lights and sounds. Heck,
Ghost Sound can play any music you like, so long as it doesn't include words. But to make those lights and sounds entertaining, that's the trick. I used to be a stage performer IRL, and there's an art to audience interaction that can't be replaced by technical (or magical) gimickry.
Survival: it has been pointed out to be before scent is good for tracking.
Oddly, the Scent ability, whether by form or spell, doesn't actually allow you to do much. That is, it allows you to use scent when tracking, but doesn't add anything to the Survival roll, nor replace the Tracking feat. And it certainly isn't going to help you feed yourself or your party, tell good water from bad, or help you locate a good campsite.
Absorb weapon (for hiding and revealing weapons anyway)
Actually,
Prestidigitation was described in 3e as allowing you to do the sort of minor magics that a professional magician might perform. That would include "sleight of hand" tricks, which may or may not include picking pockets. (I've seen pickpocket acts on stage, performed as part of a magician's routine.)
As a general note on
Ghost Sound: I've seen that argument about a lion's roar before. The specific top sound the cantrip can give is the volume of twenty men shouting. And while the description equates that to a lion's roar, I'd use the human voice equivalent because that's the scale it uses for lower caster levels: Number of voices per caster level.
Also, just because you can hear something miles away, on an open plain with no city walls or ambient sounds to obstruct or mask it, doesn't mean that you can make out any detail of that sound.
Yodeling, the Swiss singing style, was originally used to communicate over great distances, between a shepherd and his flock or between villages.
That's an example of one man "shouting", and being heard for miles, but most DMs would consider that to be a bit extreme.
