Can you discard changes on an imported FBX created by Unity?

This is a bit of an unusual question, but is there a way to undo changes made to a converted .max file in Unity? I'm trying to make a tool for my artists that syncs .anim files with the .max files on loading so that we can add animation events and other good stuff.

However, once I make a change to the animations in the asset, there's no good way to undo it. I tried deleting it and discarding my changes and downloading an earlier revision. I also tried restarting Unity. Somehow, Unity is caching my changes even though technically the source asset is unchanged.

I think reimporting the asset works, but we have limited licenses of 3dsmax at the office and I can't reimport .max files without one. I'd rather find a solution that can reset the cache in Unity without needing to reimport. Even better would be a way to do this via a script.