Ok, let me inject my 2 cents worth.
First, if you supply more VCC than a transistor can handle, you won't "FRY IT" the first time you turn it on. That is the 'breakdown' voltage of the PN junction. Once you go over this value, the 'junction' becomes a zener.... you are doing the same thing a zener diode does. You operate them in the region of their reverse breakdown voltage, AND you need a resistor to limit the current through the zener. The same phenom occurs in a transistor, as it's just a fancy set of diodes. When you go over the breakdown voltage, the PN starts to conduct current, and the voltage across the PN will be the breakdown voltage. NOW, what limits this current is what happens to the transistor. No limit... POP.... just like a zener. But usually, there is a resistor in line, so the current is limited. You won't hurt the device unless you exceed the current of the junction. The same as a zener can last for years in the 'breakdown mode' if the current is set right.
If you read the transistor data sheet, there is also a spec for reverse breakdown of the base to emitter voltage. The same thing happens if you exceed this breakdown voltage. The transistor starts to conduct, and the emitter is held at this voltage above the base voltage. The first time I saw this it took me a couple of minutes to figure out just what was going on. Then it dawned on me that the reverse base to emitter voltage was being violated.
So, driving a transistor in this fashion could be considered 'biasing' it into the zener mode, but why oh why would you use a transistor instead of a zener, unless it needs more power through it than a zener can handle. But you don't generally drive power through a zener, it is just used to regulate a voltage and the power should come through the bias resistor and into the voltage circuit, with a minimal of current through the zener.