Is there a way to take an .obj with several meshes, ungroup it, move the meshes apart, apply mats to the separated meshes, and then push some 'magic' button to make the model and it's meshes snap back together as it was originally aligned?

I have some models that are SO complicated that it's very difficult to see which mesh I'm actually applying the mat to.

I have B5.5. I hope this question makes sense.