In the original manuscript the word means occurs at the edge of what survives of the leaf; there is clearly room in the now-missing portion for ways &. Earlier in his copywork, in Nephi 17:3, Oliver Cowdery twice copied instances in 𝓞 of the phrase “ways and means” as simply means in 𝓟:
The critical text will restore these two original instances of “ways and means”, as explained under 1 Nephi 17:3. Also listed in the discussion there are four other instances where the original text uses the phraseology “ways and means” or its negative variant “no other way nor means”. So it is clearly possible that Oliver could have made the same change here in Alma 34:15, which would explain the extra length of the lacuna in 𝓞. Of course, the ways & might have also been crossed out in 𝓞. Or some other scribal crossout or rewriting could have been responsible for the difference in length.
Most important for this discussion, there are clear instances in the earliest text where means is not conjoined with way(s), yet “ways and means” (or some variant of it) would be a permissible substitute:
These examples definitely show that means alone is possible.
For the two instances in 1 Nephi 17:3 where “ways and means” was simplified to means, the phrase “ways and means” acts as the direct object of the verb provide. Here in Alma 34:15, the phrasal verb bring about takes means (or “ways and means”) as the direct object. Both provide and bring about are semantically similar, so one could argue that each verb favors the longer “ways and means” as the direct object. But there is an example where the verb provide takes only means as the direct object:
Here the earliest text (based on 𝓟 since 𝓞 is not extant) does not read “God hath provided a way and a means”.
Given all these different arguments, it is probably safest to follow the extant earliest reading in Alma 34:15, the reading in 𝓟 (“and bringeth about means unto men”), although the original text may very well have read “and bringeth about ways and means unto men”.
Summary: Maintain in Alma 34:15 the earliest textual reading without the additional ways and, thus “and bringeth about means unto men”; the possibility remains, however, that the original text read “and bringeth about ways and means unto men” since there is room between extant fragments of 𝓞 for an extra ways &.