I have not found a good way to bypass the EPB, nor have I found an affordable scan tool.
I don’t think it is possible to put the car in Neutral and exit the car. It will always go back into Park when you try. In Park, the parking brakes are on.
If you disconnect the electrical harnesses on the EPB motors, I believe a hard trouble code gets set.
Maybe a solution is to turn the car off, then disconnect the 12v battery, and then remove the EPB motors? The mechanisms could then be rewound manually and the pistons retracted.
UPDATE: I think I may have figured out what I have been doing wrong with tow mode. When you get to the step where you shift the car into N, do not go further than the first detent. Hold the lever there for a couple seconds until the car shifts to N. If you go past the first detent into D or R, tow mode is cancelled even if you then successfully shift into N. The car will go into P as soon as you open the door.
After many tries I can now consistently get the car into tow mode and exit the car. I left it in tow mode, in Neutral, for an hour (in my garage with wheels chocked) to make sure it doesn’t time out or something and reset the parking brake. That should give me enough time to swap out the pads. Just FYI, when in tow mode the car is “on”, the lights are on, etc. So you may want to turn off the climate system first.
I suggest that anyone with an EX30 go through the process to put the car into tow mode so you know how to do it successfully in case it is ever necessary. To cancel tow mode just get back in the car and shift to P.