It seems to me the key to going treatment free, especially for the commercial beekeeper, is not to reinvent the wheel, as it were.
With all do respect, I don't know if there is a wheel to reinvent. If you talk to 10 different, successful, long term treatment free beekeepers (and I'm talking more than one or two hives, as that doesn't denote an actual successful system in my book), you'll likely end up finding 9, or maybe even 10, different systems on how they do it.
Some use small cell
Some use large cell
Some use foundationless
Some rotate comb every 3 years
Some rotate comb every 5 years
Some don't rotate comb at all
Some promote the use of one particular queen
Some promote the use of another particular queen
Some promote the use of multiple different kinds of queens
Some promote the use of local (feral) queens
Some use screened bottom boards
Some use upper entrances
Some feed
Some don't feed
Some treat, softer and softer, until they claim they don't need to anymore
Some go cold turkey
Some have large losses
Some have complete losses
Some claim to never have noticed a difference in losses (although admittedly not many)
Some use brood breaks
Some use re-queening techniques
Some "just let bees be bees"
Some claim success based on genetics
Some claim success based on geographic location (isolation)
Some claim success based on techniques
Some don't claim success, and claim it's the bees doing what they do best
Some say you have to start with a treatment free hive
Some say you have to start with a treatment free nuc
Some say you have to start with a treatment free package
Some say you can place a treatment free queen in a mite ridden colony and they will survive
No-one appears to be the same
The list is not exclusive, of course, just meant to prove a point. I don't see a "right" way to go treatment free, or a "wrong" way (other than through treating, which has it's own definitional nightmare), or a "proven" way. Without having anything proven, how can we expect an industry to adopt it?