If garage door circuit board is fried by power surge, wouldn't outlet also be fried?
Anything with sensitive electronics is more susceptible to damage due to power surges. Receptacles don't have any electronics (unless they're GFCI or AFCI receptacles), and it's doubtful that a shop light has any either.  If a surge is not large enough to trip the magnetic protection, or long enough to trip the thermal protection, then the breaker will not trip.

It sounds to me like they have no idea what caused the failure, and are simply guessing.