22 degrees of pitch travel on a Nexus??? Your pitch settings sound a little off Unless you did a bunch of modification .The best a Nexus could do for me was +7 -5.Not much good for any thing but forward flight.If you were to buy another heli lets say Raptor 30V2 you would have been able to accomplish your goals easy.
Keep at it sounds like you have the skills down just need the right heli.