Those who have Bytecoins should mine it. It is that simple. Difficulty is high, but not that high. Actually it is really low in comparing to bitcoin.
If noone wants to mine, than it is doomed.
If someone mines - than it will survive even asic raids. We only need to wait until asics are really available to public, until then, there will be spikes...

So I vote not to merge-mine it. Just mine it!