My argument is that the Gets Hot rolls for blast weapons does not count as a to-hit roll, and therefore PE doesn't apply. Nothing in that paragraph contradicts that. Indeed, it even defines the Gets Hot die as preceding the to hit roll. It isn't affected by PE in my view.
To clarify: There is no re-roll unless a specific value is rolled during a to-hit roll with PE. Since it is not possible to roll that value during *the to hit roll* on a blast weapon, no re-roll is ever triggered and, therefore, no re-roll can be taken.
There is no "to hit roll" with a blast weapon. By your logic, twin-linked would not allow a reroll of the gets hot, although that is specifically allowed, because there's no to-hit roll, just a "gets-hot-check" roll. Mechanically, you insert an artificial to-hit roll before you roll scatter dice.
I acknowledge that you probably won't agree with my interpretation that the gets-hot-check roll is simply part of the unusually complex to-hit roll process involved in this situation, that replaces the usual effect of rolling a 3+ on 1d6 to see if a Marine hits something. Instead, I'll offer the following.
Regardless of the situation, a model with Preferred Enemy has the *ability* to re-roll a to hit roll. Contrast that with a model that does not have twin-linked, master-crafted, Prescience, PE, or any other *ability* to re-roll. PE only activates on a certain to hit roll, but you always have the *ability* to re-roll. For example, you may only re-roll a Twin-linked Blast weapon if you do not roll a "hit" on the scatter die. You have the ability to re-roll, but not the permission to do so, yet. Per your previous logic, you don't have the *permission* to re-roll the scatter die for a Gets Hot Blast weapon until after you roll an "Arrow" on the scatter die. Yet you are explicitly allowed to re-roll a failed gets-hot-check if you have a twin-linked blast, even though you haven't achieved the conditions for allowing a re-roll. For example, if you re-roll a "Value" for your gets-hot-check, then roll a "Hit", you aren't allowed to re-roll your scatter die.
As such, with PE, you achieve the
literal requirements to be allowed to re-roll the gets-hot-check roll, by virtue of having the
ability to re-roll a to hit roll, even if you don't have permission to do so, as the same scenario applies to Twin-Linked Blast weapons. By having the ability to re-roll to hit, you may re-roll gets-hot-checks, even if you haven't met the conditions for allowing a re-roll.
Further argument should address the incongruity between allowing re-rolled gets-hot-checks from Twin-linked, that have yet to fulfill conditions allowing the re-roll of scatter [ie- Will it hit or arrow? Can't re-roll a hit.] while disallowing PE. Admittedly, the check for PE will never resolve, but that's irrelevant. You still have the ability to re-roll a to-hit roll.