We did it with cats back when I was still breeding and after getting a researcher at Cornell to go along with the project, it was basically free for us to send in hair samples. As for being a niche hobby (which I agree on) so was breeding strange tailed cats (Japanese bobtails and manx). The catch would be to get someone with the lab capabilities and an interest in herps to take on the project. If no one has done this before, I'd like to start contacting some of the veterinary schools to see if any have herp projects going. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff that gets researched simply because it strikes a cord with someone. I spent two years at Missouri's vet school and watched a geneticist make piglets that glowed so genetic testing on snakes shouldn't be too far out there.
Along with that, I'd need breeders with some of the in question morphs to go along with it since I have a feeling that with snakes, it might require blood samples since it's a little hard to pull out a tuft of hair. A mouth swab might do it as well...