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the procedure I would use is clorse to Docile Bob's procedure:

Duplicate the background layer, and set it to Screen

Then make a selection based on luminosity (in the channels palette, CTRL/command+Click the RGB channel)

Go back to the layers palette, hit the add channle mask button. you now have a luminosity based mask, that you need to invert, as it masks the dark areas. hit CTRL+I to do so.

Now, the dark areas should be revealed.

You can adjust the opacity of the screened layer to fine tune, or even duplicate it for more lightening.

This whole process can be recorded in one action, and be applied as a batch on several files.

As for the noise, have you tried the digital deluxe toolbox set of actions?