Eddie,

I just recently learned this type of thing for scales in the Jazz Improvisation course at Berklee. Someone here pointed me to the Jamey Aebersold freebie .pdf, and the scales thing starts at page 13 or so.

There's a direct connection, of course, between the scales and the chords.

One of my piano teachers taught it similarly to what you describe particularly for chord theory. But she related it to intervals and how many half steps were in the intervals.

-Scott

Jamey Aebersold reference here btw: http://www.jazzbooks.com/mm5/download/FQBK-handbook.pdf