Using Range Height Indicator scan of radar
A vertical cross section in RHI mode reveals vertical structure that you can't directly observe in a horizontal PPI scan.  In the image below you can clearly see that there is a significant bounded weak echo region (BWER).  You could put this together from PPI scans at different scan elevations combined for a 3D view but with RHI you can see this from a single scan.  You can also get a sense of the anvil structure as shown in the image below.  

Whether you can determine anvil rain or structure is going to be affected by the particular radar and where it is located.  Each radar band has pros/cons related to detection and attenuation but if you take these into account then you could be able to determine the features you are interested in.  You should also be able to observe Doppler winds in RHI and if you are doing this in the field with research radars it is a good bet you have dual-polarimetric data as well.  

Here is a presentation of RHI scans in supercells with dual-pol data.