Simpler still:
Whenever the IP or MAC is changed in the config, the OS creates a new device with a new name (e.g., if you had eth0, it creates eth1, then eth2, etc.). The config file you were editing (/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules) is recreated at boot, so as long as you are not making changes beyond what the guest config options (in VirtualBox, HyperV, etc.) can manage, you should be able to just delete the file, and it will be recreated at the next boot.
From here: https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=43090