egreg has answers for almost every thing. For your first issue, you may use this solution give by egereg:
%%------------------egreg's code starts-------------
\usepackage{environ,xparse}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\cs_undefine:N \choices
\cs_undefine:N \endchoices
\NewEnviron{choices}{%
\par\nopagebreak
\harish_dochoices:V \BODY
\par
}
\tl_new:N \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_seq
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_final_seq
\cs_new_protected:Npn \harish_dochoices:n #1
{
\setcounter{choice}{0}
\tl_set:Nn \l_harish_choices_tl { #1 }
\tl_replace_once:Nnn \l_harish_choices_tl { \CorrectChoice } { \choice* }
\seq_set_split:NnV \l_harish_choices_seq { \choice } \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_pop_left:NN \l_harish_choices_seq \l_tmpa_tl
\seq_set_map:NNn \l_harish_choices_final_seq \l_harish_choices_seq
{ \exp_not:n { \makechoice ##1 } }
%\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq { \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{##1}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth} }
% }
\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq
{
\makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{
\parbox[t]{.45\linewidth}{\raggedright \hangindent1.5em ##1\strut}
}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth}
}
}
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \harish_dochoices:n { V }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\makeatletter
\NewDocumentCommand{\makechoice}{s}
{%
\stepcounter{choice}
\makebox[1.2em][l]{\IfBooleanT{#1}{\ifprintanswers\CorrectChoice@Emphasis\fi}\Alph{choice}.}
}
\makeatother
\CorrectChoiceEmphasis{\bfseries\boldmath}
%%------------------egreg's code ends-------------
He helped me once upon a time when I was a victim of similar requirement while I was doing some question paper.
For the second issue, you can load the adjustbox package (as Gonzalo did) but with export option. This will make keys like valign etc available for \includegraphics command. So you have to use
\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}
Remember that in this case graphicx is loaded by adjustbox.
Here is the full code:
\documentclass{exam}
\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}
%%------------------egreg's code starts-------------
\usepackage{environ,xparse}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\cs_undefine:N \choices
\cs_undefine:N \endchoices
\NewEnviron{choices}{%
\par\nopagebreak
\harish_dochoices:V \BODY
\par
}
\tl_new:N \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_seq
\seq_new:N \l_harish_choices_final_seq
\cs_new_protected:Npn \harish_dochoices:n #1
{
\setcounter{choice}{0}
\tl_set:Nn \l_harish_choices_tl { #1 }
\tl_replace_once:Nnn \l_harish_choices_tl { \CorrectChoice } { \choice* }
\seq_set_split:NnV \l_harish_choices_seq { \choice } \l_harish_choices_tl
\seq_pop_left:NN \l_harish_choices_seq \l_tmpa_tl
\seq_set_map:NNn \l_harish_choices_final_seq \l_harish_choices_seq
{ \exp_not:n { \makechoice ##1 } }
%\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq { \makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{##1}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth} }
% }
\seq_map_inline:Nn \l_harish_choices_final_seq
{
\makebox[.5\linewidth][l]{
\parbox[t]{.45\linewidth}{\raggedright \hangindent1.5em ##1\strut}
}\hspace{0pt plus .3\linewidth}
}
}
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \harish_dochoices:n { V }
\ExplSyntaxOff
\makeatletter
\NewDocumentCommand{\makechoice}{s}
{%
\stepcounter{choice}
\makebox[1.2em][l]{\IfBooleanT{#1}{\ifprintanswers\CorrectChoice@Emphasis\fi}\Alph{choice}.}
}
\makeatother
\CorrectChoiceEmphasis{\bfseries\boldmath}
%%------------------egreg's code ends-------------
\begin{document}
\begin{questions}
\question
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.65\linewidth}
Consider the network graph shown in the figure, which of the following is NOT a \textit{tree} of this graph?
%\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{choices}
\choice
\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}
\choice
\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-b}
\choice
\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-c}
\CorrectChoice
\includegraphics[scale=0.2,valign=t]{example-image-a}
\end{choices}
%\end{multicols}
\end{minipage}
\hfill%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\linewidth}
\vspace{-\baselineskip}
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{example-image-a}
\end{minipage}
\end{questions}
\end{document}

If you are not struck with exam class, I suggest you to use exsheets class which has a native support for this kind of lists.
\printanswers. – Gonzalo Medina Oct 11 '15 at 02:46