Abys are used in somali breeding programmes for type as somalis haven't been around that long so there aren't too many different lines, and being essentially long haired Abys it's acceptable to breed a somali to an Aby - as long hair is recessive the resulting kittens will be mostly shorthaired variants. The resulting variants will carry the gene for long hair (from the somali in the original mating) and are registered as somali variants and not Abys. They can't be shown as abyssinians with GCCF, although I think they can actually be shown with FIFe and/or TICA, although I'm not sure what class they are shown in. They can be used in breeding programmes though and when bred to somalis will produce some long haired kittens which are registered as somalis. Any kittens in subsequent generations that have short hair (and there will be some due to the short haired gene being dominant) will also be variants. Mosi's grandmother (on his mum's side) was a variant (mum a somali, grandmother an Aby). Mosi's mum is a registered somali and can be shown. All of her kittens (Mosi's siblings) were long haired and are registered as somalis. They are solely used for type and to introduce new lines.
