I’m pretty sure EFN is nearly the polar opposite of what “epiphyte” is calling for (which he’s tried to convince people to do on various forums many times over now). He wants “voting using money donations” to be how everyone, everywhere decides what projects to prioritize, but EFN is instead looking for people who want to participate in the breeding (by growing seeds from breeding projects). They don’t solicit donations to decide what to prioritize (thankfully), though they do sell seeds via their store for people who want the seeds without having to sign up as a volunteer grower for the breeders.
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Fair enough, but it seemed like a good time to mention EFN as I think its relevant to this thread. If someone wanted to organize a wild fruit improvement project, it would be a platform to organize it. His post also just reminded me that I had forgotten about it, and I wanted some seeds from there.
While I don’t think mature trees have any major issues (at least ours don’t) they are a host plant for spicebush swallowtails. If you have those in your area already, you may want to keep an eye on your seedlings so they don’t get munched. Not sure if they are around up north, but just thought I mention it just in case.
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Yes, I didn’t mean to sound critical! I love EFN and agree that it’s good for the type of experimentation this thread is about.
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I assume he’s got some projects in mind that he’d like us to vote for then? If that’s the aim, just start a Patreon or something and see if anyone bites. 
I’ve heard of worse.
Anyway, any actually successful breeding project shouldn’t be that hard to market. Breed cool stuff first, worry about selling stuff only once you have worthwhile stuff to sell.
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I have so many things that I would love to try breeding, but I am sorta lazy and worried about losing years of progress because I didn’t pay enough attention.
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That’s like saying, I will stay unemployed because I’m lazy and if I make some money, I’m worried I’m going to lose some of that money, so I rather stay unemployed without money so I don’t risk losing any money! 
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LOL, I guess that did sound pretty dumb. I guess a better way to put it is, for example; if I was to try breeding papayas to be grown as a annual plant here, I would want to start out with about the best varieties closest to the goal and I would be spending a pretty penny on acquiring varieties and using lots of space and time to take care of the the plants and if something goes on and I don’t pay attention and they all freeze and die, it would be a real bummer.
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No, I think your worry is reasonable. You’re unlikely to lose your money if it’s in a secure location and you don’t spend it, but your best breeding parent, top offspring, sole successful pollination from a difficult cross, etc. are always at risk of being wiped out by disease, neglect, the weather, disinterested family members, and so on. If you don’t keep impeccable records on your crosses and keep everything labeled, you very well could lose years of progress. And if you do produce something good, poor records (or records that are written in code or kept secret) result in endless amount of frustration from people trying to carry your work further. Look at all the debates on this forum regarding the parentage of pluots, persimmons, and anything bred by Luther Burbank. Each new seedling from a cross is a unique combination of genetics. If you don’t propagate a promising plant right away, you might lose it and never be able to replicate it again.
That’s not to say people shouldn’t try their hand with growing out some seedlings and making some crosses, but if you really want to improve a particular plant in a way that contributes more than just a new cultivar or two, it’s gonna take a lot of work.
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After seeing western soapberry, I looked it up and it is native right close to me.
It is poisonous, but is closely related to the lychee, rambutan, and longan tree, which are a choice edible, but tropicals.
Would a hybrid even be possible? (For curiosities sake only)
Western soapberry
Longan
They have very similar looking leaves, flowers, and fruit(at least unripe). Just wandering if it’s a possibility.
I’m not sure if this cross would be possible even with embryo rescue but why not try. I suspect a better candidate to hybridize would be Deinbollia oblongifolia.
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Don’t know alot about genetics and viability and such, but it would be a cool cross (if not poisonous). Rambutans would benefit the most from a boost in cold hardiness, even if it wasn’t to that extent. Ultratropicals are a pain to grow even in places like the Florida Keys. The other two have mild frost “tolerence” already, and would probably be easier to improve by seed selecting in colder climates as opposed to crossing. Longans would probably be “easier” to do, since alot lychee fruit has unviable seeds.
If you can’t make cold hardy longans or rambutans, maybe you can get the funny spikes of a rambutan on a soapberry. That would be an interesting ornamental plant at least.
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I can’t find much of anything on the dune soapberry (Deinbollia oblongifolia).