Here is how to use ESS with R running in a remote screen session:
ssh to the remote host (outside of emacs)
start screen session
detach it
open shell in emacs (
M-x shell
)ssh to the remote host again in the emacs shell
resume the screen session (
screen -r
)start R
finally attach ESS to the R process using
M-x ess-remote
in the shell buffer where you started R
There are more details, screenshots, and keybindings in this post http://blog.nguyenvq.com/2010/07/11/using-r-ess-remote-with-screen-in-emacs/