two questions: one on AIC and the other on scanner-blocking nebulas

[Fyron]

Nebulas/Storms that block scanners - what level of scanner do you need to see in nebulas and storms that say "This storm is opaque to most scanners"? Is it feasible to put a single satellite somewhere in the system with a X level scanner to see inside it? Also, if my ship enters a sector that also has an enemy ship, will my ships see it and engage?

That depends on the storm or nebula. Some have the equivalent of level 2 cloaking device, so can be scanned by hyper optics II. Others have the equivalent of level 4 cloaking, so can never be scanned in. This is assuming the stock game, of course. Mods might have different levels of cloaking on storms/nebulae.