Viruses and spores are similar in that they move to provoke replication. But a spores goal (ones seeking replication) will move to produce not more spores but a lifeform that is bigger than itself. A virus generally is replicating itself millions of times with no larger structures in mind. Spores that protect and fight can have similar outcomes to destructive viruses.

With viruses, for myself: The replication environment would be the cell, the cell is the food.

This and your argument are interesting ways of looking at it.