It is doable. I'd recommend you find a Beagle from show stock, rather than working stock. They have a better tendency not to follow scents and are more likely to settle into normal family life. A good working Beagle is very different from a pet Beagle. It will be a challenge though.
I had my heart set on a Beagle - right size of dog (can pick it up if need be), short coat, looks nice but the only downside was the training - as everyone says they are difficult to train. And they are really quite stubborn - you need to find what will motivate it to do what you want. With my dog it was liver paste - ugh.
I am no dog trainer, so can't really say what did the trick (and it was a few years ago) but one of the main things I was doing wrong was always telling my dog "this way" or some such communication on the walk. Apparently cos he could hear me, he always knew where I was, so there was no need for him to pay attention to staying close to me. When I stopped talking to him, carried on walking without him and hid behind trees occasionally he would suddenly realise he had 'lost' me and then had to try to find me. This works well when they are younger. He then learnt that he had to check where I am in order to be able to always find me. I am not explaining this well!! But now I almost never call him on a walk, he is always within range and the minute I turn a corner he comes bounding over to catch up.
A lot of succesful training is about establishing yourself as the pack leader - if you do this well, then the dog (depending on personality of course) will be much more likely to do as you ask it. My dog is quite submissive in nature and therefore does not aspire to be a pack leader, so is much easier to train than a more dominant dog.
Would recommend a good dog whistle too. Every time you get his/her dinner ready, blow the whistle and then the dog will start to build a good association with coming to the whistle.