Open Question: Considering piano as a career, need some advice, expertise?

I adore music and I've always known I wanted to be a musician of some sort since i was young. Recently though, I thought I would do music as a hobby because I got a full academic scholarship in the sciences to a state school, and my parents said it would be stupid of me to give it up. But I realized I don't want to do something that's going to make me unfulfilled for the rest of my life.. So I told my parents I want to be a musician and it's final. They aren't too happy about it, but they said they will supportt me if it will make me "somewhat successful and earn me a good living". I've been teaching myself to read music for the past year (but iI've been doing improvisations and composing my own music by ear for several years), making the most out of it, and I've been regularly checking with a piano teacher to make sure I'm not making any mistakes. Seems to be going good, I'm in grade 6 at the moment and have been practicing classical peices very hard. I dedicate around 4-6 hourse each day. What steps can I take to get farther in this career? Should I consider music school? What career options are available for me? Joseph P: I meant I used to play by ear, composing my own music and doing improvisations BEFORE I could read music. That's why I started to teach myself to read music. I know that "playing by ear" isn't good enough. No, I'm not talking about the UK grading. I live in the US. Btw- I'm 17 if I hadn't already mentioned