Can the Samsung search key be remapped without rooting? I'd like to be able to change my search quick-key from Google, probably to DuckDuckGo, as it has some great shortcuts, and has a short, readable privacy policy. However some cursory research suggests that to do this, one has to have a rooted phone. Can this be done without rooting?

I am running a Samsung Galaxy Europa with Android 2.2, though I'd expect the answer will apply to any Android device. I should think I'll be rooting my device anyway, but it would be good to give non-rooted phone owners a choice of search facility, if it is possible!
The official DuckDuckGo app has its own search widget that can replace Android's built-in Google search widget. Have you tried that?