He is professor emeritus at ETH Zurich since 2010 and continues to work at the Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics and part-time at Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz (FHNW) in Windisch, Switzerland.

[6] Together with his student Säm Krucker Benz first detected heating events in the solar atmosphere that are now considered the most promising explanation for the high temperature of the corona.

Benz presided several scientific committees, such as the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy (1999–2002) and Division II (Sun and Heliosphere) of the International Astronomical Union (2000–2003).

To the public at large, Benz is known for his numerous presentations on astronomy at the popular level, most prominently on Swiss television and radio since 1979, as well as for his several books on the interdisciplinary dialog between natural sciences and religion.

He emphasizes the new perspectives that today's astrophysical findings open up for the concept of divine creation and highlights that this belief is based on participating perceptions and religious experiences that are fundamentally different from scientific observations.