It's been done, but not for the reasons you mention. Mainly for creating hybrids of two different species down the line.

Sadly many apprentices and beginners mistake "imprint" as being friendly birds. It's absolutely not the case. Imprints simply don't fear humans, they are or aren't "friendly" depending on their individual inclinations, but imprinting them doesn't make them friendly. It can even make them extremely aggressive toward humans, as they are not inhibited by fear anymore. Hence the reason why apprentices shouldn't have access to imprinted birds early on...