The common name is “salal” – it was a major food source for indigenous peoples of the PNW pre-colonization. Here’s an article about it:
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/salal/
And how OGW describes it:
I don’t know of anyone working on improving it, but it does seem like a good candidate. I’ve noticed significant differences in fruit quality when foraging on hikes in the region. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are patches of better quality fruit in areas where Salish peoples maintained them. My understanding is they would do essentially controlled burns and then spread salal into the burn scars, where it often dominates other understory plants naturally.