In SQL Server 2008 and higher what is the best/safest/most correct way
Safest way will be to output or return the scope_identity() within the procedure inserting the row, and then retrieve the row based on that ID. Use of @@Identity is to be avoided since you can get the incorrect ID when triggers are in play.
Any technique of asking for the maximum value / top 1 suffers a race condition where 2 people adding at the same time, would then get the same ID back when they looked for the highest ID.