MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The very disease that has decimated millions of American elms in the U.S. is now being used to bring the iconic trees back.

In Vermont, Leila Wilson, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, is one of the scientists leading an effort to beat Dutch elm disease, which has killed tens of millions of elm trees over the last century.

Scientists with the Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy Vermont spent the summer injecting 6,000 young elm trees with Dutch elm disease spores to test their resistance to the disease.

The survivors will be sent to a breeding program with a goal of growing the genetic diversity of disease-tolerant elm trees. They will one day be used for restoration in forests, riverbanks and backyards.