If you're just looking for a quick cosmetic fix you can mix up some 5 minute epoxy and mix it with about 40% maple wood dust from 220 grit sandpaper. Dam up the edge with tape and overfill a little bit so it's rounded above the surface. Close to it's cured point but not quite there yet, it'll be easily shaved in successive passes with a sharp chisel or single sided razor blade. The sharper the tool the more care required to keep from nicking the existing finish. The perfect tool is a well honed 1" wide chisel with the final shaving pass done right on the wood finish surface as a guide. If the filler starts to pull out in tiny micro-fractures you waited too long. It's not the end of the world but you'll find shaving it when it's soft results in a smooth surface. Holding the chisel at an angle and rotating through the slice will minimize the fracturing from waiting until it's hardened. A couple practice runs are beneficial to get this down. Using a sheet of somewhat worn sandpaper will help keep it's grit out of the mixture which will keep the chisel sharper. As for refinishing, the epoxy will not take oil but an oil/varnish will both help hide remaining scratches and leave a minute layer of varnish on the epoxy to help it blend in. Similarly, if you cared to sand the whole area of repair a rubbed on oil/varnish will do a good job of matching the existing finish. If you use cherry dust for the filler it'll invariably result in a too dark mix, thus the maple.
All that said, if you're adept with a chisel, paring out a recess and leaving any exposed end grain pared on a 45° angle and gluing in a new patch of cherry would be a good way to go.
Myself, I would be bothered to see any patch and would pattern rout the entire area to 1/32" deep, carve and fill any damage below that depth with cherry, then lay on a precisely fitted veneer with a non water based glue like gorilla glue to keep the veneer from curling and refinish the new wood with tung oil/varnish.
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