public vs public_html for git workflow deployment in apache?
Generally, you can make the Craft public folder whatever you want it to be. That allows you to deploy to any folder you like.

For example, I deploy to a public_html on one server, public on another and web on another server. Each of those directories are the web root of their respective site.

The only thing(s) within the public (or whatever you call it) directory is/are the index.php file (and whatever other js/css etc type files) you may have. As long as you can tell that file where the craft directory is (usually one level above the web root) - you should be golden!