This code:
switch ($column_list_cat[$col]) {
case 'CATEGORY_LIST_NAME':
$lc_align = 'left';
$lc_text = '<h3 class="itemTitle"><a href="'
. zen_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new). '">' . $listing->fields['categories_name'] . '</a></h3><div class="listingDescription">'
. zen_trunc_string(zen_clean_html(stripslashes(zen_get_category_description($listi ng->fields['categories_id'], $_SESSION['languages_id']))))
. '</div>' ;
break;

Gets populated by this filter:
zen_get_category_description

So you could change the normal output of the description in the core file so it's consistent site wide.
- includes/functions/functions_lookups.php

OR

Restructure the variable on the page before it displays the output.
- includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/templates/tpl_modules_advanced_search_categories.php

$avansant_category_desc = 'add your custom script here'

Look over the file, trace the variables back to the source SQL query before randomly calling functions... echo and print_r are your friends ;)

I like core changes, one change - site wide application, less processing.

And thank you for the coffee, I'm enjoying one now :)