When I first learnt music theory some half-century ago the 'normal' form of minor scale was the Harmonic Minor, the one with the raised 7th note.
We knew about and used the other ones, Melodic Minor and Natural Minor, and we'd just about stopped 'correcting' modal folk tunes to fit Common Practice harmonic patterns (though we could get confused over the mix of modes in 'Greensleeves').
But Harmonic Minor was king. In fact, when studying for theory exams, the clincher for whether a two-flats key signature indicated B♭ major or G minor was whether the F notes were sharpened. If not, B♭ major. If they were, G minor.
These days, particularly in the guitarist-songwriter world, we seem to start with the Natural Minor scale and the triads that may be formed from it. Maybe we get the idea that the minor v chord and its associated Natural Minor scale is 'correct'. But then we keep coming across music which uses the major V chord, often extended into V7! And we discover the Cycle of 5ths, with its chain of dominant-function chords! Yes, that sharpened 7th in a minor key, enabling a true Dominant 7th chord, is very useful when chords want to PROGRESS, not just sit next to each other. And the most basic functional progression in music is from a dominant to its tonic.
Not sure what you mean about barre chord shapes? A barre chord of G major shifted down one fret surely becomes a barre chord of F♯ major? yes, G major is the dominant of C minor, and by definition a dominant transitions nicely to its tonic.