Choosing Mail column in which to scroll

I'm trying get away from mousing when reading Apple Mail messages. I'd like to create macro for a modifier key which will instruct the direction keys to scroll up/down in either the message list column or the message window itself. I currently have macros which will move the cursor to a fixed position in the message list column or the message window but would like to refine the process. Even stepping back to a previous cursor position might be useful. Any help will be appreciated.