Using Office 2003 and Windows XP;

In MS-Access one can split the database into a front-end and a back-end
wherein the front-end consists of the GUI and programs; the back-end only
contains tables.

Thinking radically now, would it be possible to use MS-Excel containing a
spreadsheet based form as the front-end distributed to users and have an
MS-Access back-end that contains the programming (that validates the form and
controls form submission and printing, etc)? Has anyone ever tried this
approach?

The front-end would only contain code that calls appropriate programs stored
in modules in the password protected back-end. The idea here is to distribute
a very light-weight front-end and protect the actual code a little better.

Users prefer Excel and are diverse, the processors of user info are
centralized. The front-end would be distributed via script that copy it onto
the local user's desktop. Form submission would push the data into the DB
where the processors could get at it easily...

Before spending more time and effort thinking it through, is this
hair-brained?
Thanks for your input and/or comments...