Gnu screen in emacs shell mode: how to fix color escape codes

[Leo Alekseyev]

I would like to attach screen inside emacs, in shell mode. I often find myself
running emacs with inferior processes inside screen on remote servers; it would
be nice if I could shift the workflow to local emacs + TRAMP; ability to
reattach persistent sessions is a must, however. (Such workflow is particularly
useful for analysis in R, cf
http://blog.nguyenvq.com/2010/07/11/using-r-ess-remote-with-screen-in-emacs/)

Shell-mode is rather desirable because I keep encountering miscellaneous
glitches and even crashes when using the combination of M-x term or M-x
ansi-term + screen + R. However, I can't seem to get rid of ansi colored
rendered as escape codes in screen when run under M-x shell. When I use
ansi-color-for-comint-mode-on, they are fine -- but as soon as screen comes on,
it becomes a horrible mess.

Can anyone suggest a set of conditions for proper interpretation of ansi color
with shell + screen?  Some TERM=... or termcap/info magic?..  What about getting
rid of color altogether?.. 

TIA,

--Leo