iPhone storage issue

[NorthernChaosGod]

So for a while now I've noticed that my iPhone has a large "Other" file. With the recent upgrade to iOS 7 I can now see that 2.8 gigs is from old saved messages on my phone. I've Googled the problem and the solutions seem to be to jailbreak the phone or set up as a new device.

I'm not going to jailbreak my phone, so I'm kind of left with resetting my phone to factory defaults. My question is two-fold, has anyone ever done this and restored contacts, photos, and app data successfully afterward or does someone have another way to delete the saved messages?

EDIT: If you even think about mentioning some other kind of phone, you can smurf off.