Yes, hero got paid off here, but who is to say he wouldnt have anyways?
Possibly, but from experience, some people really only put money on the table if they sense weakness first.. if you're up against that kind of person then a slowplay will work and a value bet won't. Ofcourse maybe he is thinking (hoping) his QQ is good anyway, regardless of the flopped ace, and then he'll pay off anyway. Dunno.

Lets assume the turn card completes the flush draw, would you lead with a PSB and then call his push?
Let's put Villain on the range of AA/KK/QQ/JJ/AK/AQ. That's 112 different possible hands, of which 16 are suited and of those 16 suited, 4 are in the suit of the board. So that's like a 4/112 chance or 3.6%. Ofcourse possible. And yes it's low but in the long run, if you're always gonna pay these off, you're running dead. But the thing is: then he has only 18% to complete his flush on the turn. This makes my total risk 0.68%.. ok, well, this is a chance I am willing to take.
As played the turn paired the board and then hero lead with a PSB, as the villain this would have to worry me. I can see arguments for slowplaying on a dry board with a hand like a set or better, but not much less than that and especially on a board with a flush draw.
Seeing how abysmal the chance is to actually run into a flush here, I'd say a slowplay is on average better to extract more value here. He is scared you have the ace, and with good reason.. heavy preflop action usually indicates an ace or a high pp.. so his QQ isn't looking too great anymore on that board.

And if you are really scared of the flush, you can still fold to heavy aggression if another club turns up. I don't think I would though, I feel it's -EV due to hand ranges here.