Here's the problem: I have a usb scanner (HP) and want to get the image through a web application. Solved long ago with a java applet but now chrome doesn't support them anymore.
I've already seen potential solutions. The "coolest" one was Dynamsoft but I can't afford on NPAPI or ActiveX. I've seen html5 websocket technology, the communication works but it seems that there are no way to interface it with the scanner.
I'm in a similar boat. Firefox has announced deprecation as well but has not yet set a date for end of support. Your only other option in the near future is to write your own plugin based on PNACL. I've made attempts at this and found it difficult due to PNACL limiting C source's functionality. If using Dynamsoft's products you'll want to use their Web TWAIN SDK which would cover most users, but again their price can be an issue.
In the future we might have some things to look forward to: