There is always a lot of discussions about cold hardy figs and finding trees that make it in the cold unprotected. I am still new at this and I am trying toget a better understanding of science. Maybe I am miss reading, but I have read it discribed this way in a few topics. If you find a fig tree that has lived in a cold area unprotected for a long time 30-50 years. The tree has adapted to the cold and that would be a good tree to take some cuttings from... Does the tree actually change its make up(DNA?) to live and just because that one tree made it a cutting from that tree should have the exact same tolerance if grown? Or does it just make it more likely that cutting will do well, but it could still die back just as easy as another not cold hardy tree?

Great question.  I would imagine that it's simply the tree adapting to the climate: perhaps entering dormancy earlier and more deeply, hardening off earlier (adjusting to shorter seasons), maybe even changing some of the characteristics of the type of growth it puts out.  Added to it is the fact that the tree is older, has a stronger root system, and older (and therefore stronger/hardier?) wood.

Based on the writings of the seasoned botanist posting here and on GW, cuttings from a tree that has survived some envirironment somewhere will not show different/changed characteristics than the original cuttings of the survived mother tree had when planted (edit -->) other than the vitality of the new cuttings based on the growth conditions of the cutting.

Ok, so basically you are starting over again and hoping that the tree has the qualities and it't not luck or something enviromental that keeps the tree alive in the cold.

I agree with Ottawan (if I understand him/her correctly).  One generation is not enough evolutionary time to adapt by genetic mutation.  Of course adaption can occur by epigenetic means (i.e. adjusting which genes are turned on/off) but it seems very unlikely that the cold adaptation from epigenetics would be stable enough to be passed from a mature tree, through a cutting, to the tree that results from the cutting.  So probably the best way to think about it is that upon propagation via a cutting the plant re-sets itself based on its genetic make-up.  I would love to be proven wrong but someone would need to do the experiment!