one of the most useful gadgets a service tech can own is Bob Parker's famous ESR meter. Not only will it check the ESR of nearly any electro * IN CIRCUIT * - it also reads resistors from about 0.1 ohms up to 99 ohms.
It will not generally matter if the particular resistor has an inductor ( ie in a speaker crossover network ) or transformer winding in parallel - as the test signal is a 100 kHz pulse wave.
Bob's meter will also check the ESR of cells and batteries, from the tiniest lithium button cells up to NiCd and NiMH packs. Along with a simple voltage test, it tells you a lot about the condition and state of charge of such cells.
One more use is when servicing SMPS - often a MOSFET or high speed diode will have a switching transformer winding in parallel making it test *dead short* with an ohm meter.
Instead cutting leads to isolate the part so you can test it, just use Bob's meter.
You will soon see if it really is shorted or not.
... Phil