In Virginia, battery is "the offensive, unprivileged touching of the person of another without cause, justification, or excuse." Assault is the "offer or attempt to commit an immediate battery". The slightest touching that meets these criteria is sufficient. Force and violence are pretty much irrelevant. So usually a person who is convicted under that statute is found guilty in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court and there is absolutely no record of the proceedings - just an order form that has blanks for the judge to fill in for the finding of guilt or acquittal and the punishment where appropriate.
If the conviction was (1) not in a court of record (i.e., circuit court or higher), AND (2) there is no record of the use of actual or attempted force or violence; THEN the person has not been convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" for the purposes of the federal statute. In theory one in that situation should be safe in ignoring the conviction - background checks for buying guns from dealers will take longer, because a human will have to look at the record to see whether eligibility is denied. That's all in theory, however, because they're still denying people and the police are still arresting people, because they don't know the difference.
The best approach for such a person is a suit for declaratory judgment in the circuit court in the city or county in which the person convicted resides. That way he can carry a court order around with him specifically stating that he's eligible to carry.
It is possible to be convicted under that statute and for that conviction to operate as a bar to possession. That happens when the conviction occurs in the circuit court and there is a record of the actual or threatened use of force or violence (as opposed to a mere or slight touch). I'm considering a case right now in which the person convicted in the J&DR ct. appealed to the circuit court, but it's been so long there is apparently no transcript, and the final order says nothing about what happened. Even if he had held a gun on his wife, he's not ineligible, because there's no record. If there were a record of force or violence, then his only hope would be a gubernatorial pardon followed by a petition for restoration of firearms rights in his local circuit court. (The pardon is not enough for full restoration of rights.)