Large, involved, multi-trait programs focusing on closed breeding and maintaining diversity have made very slow progress, if any, at producing colonies that survive varroa.  Theoretically, the diversity in such programs should have produced colonies that deal better with pathogens, forage more effectively, and even deal better with varroa.  In practice, with the presence of a host-shifted parasite, other more pragmatic approaches may be necessary.

In contrast, smaller efforts at intense selection for varroa resistance trait(s) rapidly produces colonies that "potentially" survive without treatment.  The reality that the trait is diluted through outcrossing once placed in situations with no mating control does not invalidate the effort.  That situation may be what needs to be "corrected", rather than say the effort is pointless.

In this industry, few have the patience, or the time, or the funds to engage in long term theoretically more correct efforts.

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