That sounds promising. I hope the results won't be diverted tough. The elms beneficed of such a study against their killing pest. The research succeeded by cross breedind and brought a resistant elm, a little different than the original one (smaller and yellowish for example) but able to survive and grow. But it's now patented and you have to bring the big bucks to get some of them. So, nobody will pay to plant the thousands of kilometers of rural edges (the elms were everywhere in the country, so useful for the people back in the days) and the forests, only a few landscaping projects in urban areas can afford it.