Doing a stucco repair and using Home Depot self-furring lathe. It's my
understanding that ideally the lathe should be in the middle of the
stucco. It seems logical to me that the screws should go in the
dimples to leave the area between the dimples raised, which would seem
to be the whole reason for the dimples.

Any reason why you think this is a bad idea?

Also, how frequently do the screws need to go in? Should ever other
dimple across be enough? I'm attaching the lathe to 3/4" plywood.

Thanks.