Exporting to DNG from Lightroom classic

With all the great comments from others above and Reading your first post again and considering-  "..ditch LR altogether."

Then your options are-

1) In LrC:  Write metadata to proprietary raw files. This will create sidecar XMP files with the proprietary raw files. All raws will open in Photoshop (from Bridge or a file browser) through ACR with the last edit state visible. You always keep the raws with a sidecar.

2) In LrC:  EXPORT files as DNG. No sidecar is created, but the last edit state is visible from the metadata saved within the DNG file.  Now you have two files to contend with- the proprietary raw and the DNG raw. ie. more things to worry about. Are you going to delete the proprietary raw files and just keep the DNGs? Or are you going to Convert in LrC (Not Export)?

3) Keep Lightroom-Classic running and indexing all your files, then you need do nothing more. You get to keep all History, Virtual Copies, Collections, etc. And you simply [Edit in Photoshop] when you want -creating a new TIF or PSD file in the LrC catalog.

I question why you want to Export to DNG. I recommend you simply stay with Lightroom-Classic  and all these questions and hassles go away.  Lightroom-Classic is ACR !

As Rob says. Nothing lost, all the camera sensor data are there.

But you need to do this first from Lightroom Classic:

LrC stores all edits centrally in the catalog database, not in the file. So ACR can't read it unless you first export all this metadata to the files (as a sidecar for proprietary formats, into the file header for DNG).

Just so it's said, you can use LrC entirely based on your physical folder structure on disk. That's what I do. The "Folders" panel in LrC operates just like a normal file browser. You don't need to use the catalog-based modes of organization.

Converting a proprietary raw file to the DNG format does not lose quality at all- the camera sensor data is identical in both.  (Converting RGB files- JPG, TIF, etc, is a waste of effort as the DNG only becomes a 'wrapper' for the RGB file contained within).

Exporting to DNG from Lightroom-Classic will however encapsulate LrC editing in the metadata of the DNG file. The editing metadata will only be visible in other Adobe apps that can read this metadata  (LrC, Lr, ACR, Bridge). In other software, or file viewers, the DNG will appear as original from camera.

LrC has no problem using named folders for various versions of files. You do not have to stick with the often recommended 'Dated folder' structure. Your folder structure is entirely your decison.