First year apple trees with woolly aphids

Hello, new to the forum and permaculture. My husband and I are beginning our fruit growing journey and just planted a variety of trees, two of them being tiny unbranched first year apples (one William’s Pride, one Liberty) from a local nursery in 5gal root pouches. We got them mid day Saturday and planted them late afternoon Saturday.

On Sunday when I went out to prune and check everything out further, I removed most of the tape holding the trees to their bamboo stakes to give them more airflow. Under several sections of tape on both trees, I saw spots that reverse image search told me were woolly aphids, and that seems about right. The reading I’m doing says I have options for treatment, but I’m worried that the infestation has been damaging enough it may have already affected the roots, and may prevent them from becoming established. I also am not sure if I could cut all affected portions off as they are as low as ~24in. I am also worried that they will spread to the other trees I’ve planted. I say all this as someone who is brand new to fruit trees though.

I’ve emailed the nursery with pictures but have not heard back yet. I paid $50 each for these trees, so I would have hoped they didn’t come home with a disease or pest right off the bat. Any suggestions or advice? Thanks in advance!

Woolly aphids are pretty common on apples, they look worse than they are most of the time. On first year trees I'd just keep an eye on them and let the predators find them. Both those varieties are solid choices too, Liberty especially is tough as nails.

Thanks Joao! Yes, we chose our varieties for their hardiness and disease resistance. I spent a LONG time finding ones that should be resistant to cedar apple rust, which we know is on our property.

The nursery owner replied and said these are actually scale insects and "much easier to deal with than aphids." I am not convinced since I am seeing pictures of woolly aphid damage that look exactly like what my trees have, but whatever - they are a pest nonetheless.
I will be getting some dormant oil and Neem oil per her suggestion, having scrubbed off the insects in the meantime. I also plan to put in some plants around the trees to attract those good predator insects

Honestly though, I am still going to request a refund for the tree with FOUR damaged spots. It's pretty annoying to have brought home 2/2 trees at a premium price that already have an infestation/damage...