The best way of dealing with upper register fingering (and the same rules apply to all brass instruments) is to familiarise oneself with the principles of the Harmonic Series.
ie: Starting on the lowest note and working upwards, with no valves down you have Pedal C, C, G, C, E, G, (a very flat) Bb, (top) C, D, E, (a very sharp) F, G, and upwards, theoretically at least another octave, although not really relevant to brass band playing. The point is, if you depress the 2nd valve (or go out one shift on a trombone), you have the exact same sequence of notes, but transposed down a semitone; 1st valve, down another semitone, 1st+2nd another, and so on. Once you become familiar with these patterns, the various options for upper register fingerings will become clear, together with many alternative fingerings for lower down in the register (not forgetting that with 4-valve instruments there are even more possible options for mid-register fingerings, although there are usually attendant intonation problems (with multiple-plug bass trombones, the options become so complicated that only a handful of players in the world actually understand all of them!)).
It is nevertheless true that the best option for any given note will vary according to the make/model of instrument, mouthpiece, individual embouchure/oral cavity characteristics etc., etc. The only real solution is to experiment, but it helps if you understand the principles behind the alternatives.
Hope this helps, sorry about the lecture!!!
Regards,
G.