You've described exactly what we did after the storm, except we went with the more simple option. The hookup is on the outside of the house and there is a four switch panel in the basement that controls that.

However, we've not gotten it so sophisticated, since our generator is in 80-90 year old garage. The generator we got still needs to be plugged into the outside of the house, but that's better than snaking an orange extension cable through the house.