When I first saw that, 'being researched', I thought it was funny actually. I figured it just meant he just hasn't made the choice yet to go the self-release route yet, because there shouldn't be that much 'research' involved. The question is can he actually make that choice to move beyond labels(?), because let's face it - they're not even close to being as capable today as labels were in the 1960s through 90s - and will most likely always disappoint him in some way.
That is true also. Though, he likes to have the label promote his stuff, so let's not make that record label too small.
I do like your point though, because it makes me think of Rough Trade Records and how The Smiths were their flagship artist. Morrissey could essentially do that for another smaller/indie label, even in the twilight of his career, and that would not be a bad thing.
Either way, they know they are going to sell X amount of copies - even if X is something 'small' like 200,000 - from a Morrissey album. He's got enough $$$ to fund the project, plus can probably conjure up some favors from people in the industry who respect him - like audio engineers, etc. So, I would think the distribution (if self-releasing) would be the easier part rather than him balancing some kind of multi-year contract with one of today's labels, which has been his goal forever but lately seems to always fall short.