I've never had problems with aluminum nipples in wheels I've built with spokes reaching at least the slot bottoms and properly lubricated threads and rim sockets, although I ran into a wheel built by someone else ridden in California which obviously wasn't done right and needed vise grips.

I built my first pair living in Boulder, CO in 1997 or 1998 where I rode them on roads with left over snow and a little salt although I used a spare pair with 27mm cross tires mounted when the snow didn't melt. Stored them living in Seattle 2006-2008. Moved to Silicon Valley in 2008 where I used the commuting up to 26 miles round trip including rain until using a Powertap September 2010-March 2011 and getting serious about training with power in April, 2014.

I Lubricated with grease or anti-seize the first time; it's been at least 17 years. I replaced the rear rim once or twice, and bent the original Reflex clincher front in 2011. The nipples always turned fine so I reused them (apart from the pair I made trapezoidal with an incompletely seated spoke wrench straightening the bent front rim in a late night road-side repair), taking the opportunity to re-lubricate threads and sockets with anti-seize.

The Powertap/Velocity Fusion set I built in April 2014 is doing great, although I've only done 6000 miles on them so far so it's too early to tell and I haven't needed to true them.

I used zinc anti-seize on those (not the standard aluminum) which is the correct engineering choice because the zinc corrodes preferentially to the aluminum; although I suspect any grease which keeps water out is just fine.

While I'd conservatively recommend brass for spoke length and lubrication tolerance, I think most of the problem with alloy nipples is builder-error in those areas.