How to handle relationships between MongoDB schemas in a shared npm package?

Question

I am creating a private npm package to share my MongoDB schemas across multiple projects. I have a parent schema (DeviceSchema) and a child schema (PayloadSchema) that references the parent schema. Here's a simplified version of my schemas:

import mongoose from "mongoose";

const DeviceSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    // other fields...
});

const PayloadSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
    device: {
        type: mongoose.Schema.Types.ObjectId,
        ref: 'Device',
    },
    // other fields...
});

In my application, I need to perform certain operations when a Device document is removed, such as removing all Payload documents associated with that Device. Normally, I would use Mongoose's middleware functions to handle this, but Mongoose recommends not to use models in the package.

Is there a way to handle these types of operations using only schemas? Or is there a recommended approach for sharing MongoDB schemas that have relationships with each other in a npm package? Any guidance would be appreciated.

I tried using Mongoose's pre-remove middleware in the DeviceSchema as follows:

DeviceSchema.pre('findOneAndDelete', function(next) {
    // remove all payloads associated
    this.model('Payload').remove({ device: this._id }, next);
});

But this solution is not possible, this.model does not exist.