Also, as an alternative to direct wiring you could use guy-wires. The good thing about this technique is that you can actually control the amount of pressure
Not sure why you think you cannot control the pressure on a branch with normal wiring ?
you place on a brach, that way you take less chances on breaking those brittle branches.
I'd say the chance of breaking brittle branches is higher. You put force on one place only, the branch will snap off at the weakest part. Using normal wiring, when properly done, you evenly distribute the entire force over the whole branch.
What you probably were referring to is:
"When using a guy-wire, pressure can be increased slowly, giving the tree time to adept"
In other words, you do not place the branch in the position you eventually want it in rightaway - it takes months to gradually tighten the guy-wire.