PT6A,
If an airline was selecting and paying for the cadets training
As you say, if the scheme chose potential candidates based upon their innate ability not just their ability to pay then I'm sure it would be fine/more acceptable.
The days of Airlines paying for full training are, IMHO, sadly gone. An airline wants a payback now for it's risk/investment and it will take a fundamental ethos shift for that to change in the future I'm afraid.