http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?247271-Cycles-Automatic-Material-Textures-Node
Convert Materials from Cycles to Blender Internal Render
These links claim that it IS possible to transfer Material data between Cycles and Internal, as long as they were created in the Node Editor.
Both have very different options, (one has BDSF shaders and the other has plain old Diffuse and Specular whatnot) but Cycles is much better for designing materials.
Unfortunately, when making animations, Cycles render uses a LOT more resources than Internal render.
Is it possible to design a material in Cycles render (node editor), use the scripts in the links above to move the node data over to Blender Internal, and render animations and scenes with intact Cycles Material data, even though both offer different kinds of nodes for material design?