Cleaning Bosties Ears - Any advice on making this a less stressful situation?

Last year in autumn our little guy had an ear infection, he's just turned 7 and fortunately never suffered with them in the past. This was particularly difficult to shake and took a good 3-4 vet trips before it finally cleared late November. I suspect largely because the ear drops we were given didn't go down well at all, he would wriggle furiously and shake his head anytime we got the nozzle near, its a complete nightmare to try and administer them.

In the end the vet gave him a "one time treatment" administered it there and then and it cleared. For the whole of December he was fine, then in the New Year we noticed him shaking his head a lot, grumbling after scratching his ears etc so we took him back to the vet today. They say that there's not enough inflammation for it to be an ear infection, and that he does have quite a wax build up and hairy ears! So perhaps that is irritating him, and advised that we clean them every few days to see if that helps clear it up.

Easier said than done though, he wriggles so much, it took 3 vets to get the eardrops in to clean whilst we were there, I was worried he was going to go for someone at one point he was crying throughout (the vets were ever so gentle with him I dont think they could have done any better with him tbh) but its horrible seeing him so distressed. After the first drop goes in he calms, I think its the initial cold shock, and hes quite happy for you to put cotton wool into clean thereafter.

I know we have many more cleans ahead of us whilst we get to the bottom of this issue with the ears, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this and can share any tips. I've tried giving treats as he's very food driven, keeping him calm, petting him talking to him softly etc, but it seems he's still terrified of the process and wrestles to get away, just as I get the nozzle close to his ear he either shakes his head or darts in another direction, its quite the fiasco.

Any advice or tips would be most appreciated! I hate seeing him so distressed. Thank you.