Hello, Yes you will get credit for the link, except unlike with a keyword specific text link, you don't get the extra bonus for a specific keyword. But having a few image links is good imo because it makes the linking pattern look more natural.
Google does look at image alt attributes... I don't know if that counts as anchor text, but I don't see why not.
Yes Google counts image links but you don't get the anchor text value of a real link unless you use alt="My Great car site [or whatever here]".
Yes, google will follow the image link but not counted as an anchor text points. its good to have an image link to your site especially if you are only starting link building.But nevertheless, in doing SEO you must stick with your keywords as your anchor text.
yes, google can follow image link, if you have written it like <a href="url.html">your image code comes here</a>