It also adds moisture to the heat exchanger, which promotes rust, and uses expensive gas. Newer furnaces have electronic ignitions and do not have a pilot light to worry about. Step One is to turn off the power. There are no options to steps one, two and three. To remove the bulb base, you do have options.
Many people use a piece of potato instead of the broom handle.
People who live close to the coast have this problem more often. Kathy's fiberglass pool slide is looking pretty sad. Yes, it can. I would use gloss solvent-based true epoxy paint. True epoxy means you will buy a can of activator and another can of color.