How do I access the list of selected assets from an event in python?

Question

Key thing here is from an event - this answer does a great job at explaining how to get the list from inside the asset browser window, which is not what I am looking to do (unless I'm missing something).

For context: I am trying to create an add-on that assigns the currently selected material asset to the current object(s) via a shortcut.

In other words - I'd like the user to be able to

• select a material
• select a mesh
• press Shift-Ctrl-A and assign the material to the mesh
• select another mesh
• press Shift-Ctrl-A and assign the material to the new mesh

in python I know

• how to assign a material to a mesh
• how to detect events

but I cannot for the life of me figure how to get the currently selected assets from an event. Bold because I am aware of this answer on how do one gets the selected Assets in the Asset Browser using the API - but it doesn't seem to work unless I invoke the functionality from a button inside the asset browser (which is not what I am looking for).

I got this far:

import bpy
import os
from pathlib import Path

from bpy.props import (StringProperty,
                       BoolProperty,
                       IntProperty,
                       FloatProperty,
                       FloatVectorProperty,
                       EnumProperty,
                       PointerProperty,
                       )
from bpy.types import (Panel,
                       Menu,
                       Operator,
                       PropertyGroup,
                       )

class WM_OT_GetAssetContext(Operator):
    bl_label = "Get asset context"
    bl_idname = "wm.get_asset_context"
    pass

def cycle_all_areas(context):
    for screenArea in context.window.screen.areas:
        if screenArea.type == 'FILE_BROWSER':
            print('here')
            params = screenArea.spaces.active.params
            print(dir(params.bl_rna))
            # context.area = screenArea
            try:
                print(context.selected_asset_files)
            except Exception as e:
                print(e)
                pass
            print(params.asset_library_ref)
            break


class WM_OT_ModalOperator(Operator):
    """Move an object with the mouse, example"""
    bl_idname = "object.modal_operator"
    bl_label = "Simple Modal Operator"

    @classmethod
    def poll(cls, context):
        return True
    
    def modal(self, context, event):
        if not context.mode == "OBJECT":
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}

        if event.type in ["A"] and event.value == "PRESS" and event.ctrl and event.shift:
            print("Assignment")
            print('area', context.area)
            print('space', context.space_data)
            cycle_all_areas(context)

        else:
            return {'PASS_THROUGH'}
                
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}

    def invoke(self, context, event):
        print('been invoked')
        context.window_manager.modal_handler_add(self)
        return {'RUNNING_MODAL'}



classes = (
    WM_OT_GetAssetContext,
    WM_OT_ModalOperator
)


def register():
    from bpy.utils import register_class

    for cls in classes:
        register_class(cls)

def unregister():
    from bpy.utils import unregister_class
    for cls in reversed(classes):
        unregister_class(cls)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()
    bpy.ops.object.modal_operator('INVOKE_DEFAULT')
    

but all the lines printing area and space data output None and shen I press shift+ctrl-A I get the following error:

Context' object has no attribute 'selected_asset_files`

What's the right way to achieve this?