Yes you can prune for that effect, but not now, wait until spring. The tree will fill in right where you prune, so don't prune every other branch because then you will have some leggy branches and some bushy ones. Pruning now will not stimulate the growth pattern you want. Wait til spring before bud break. Start with just tidying up, pruning out crossing branches, etc. Then prune all the branches to the shape you want, bearing in mind that the tree will grow out bushy where you have pruned it. These are called heading cuts. It is usually recommended that you not prune a tree back more than 1/3 of the length of the branch. Make too many heading cuts, and all your foliage will all end up on the ends of the branches and it will look more like a mushroom than a lollipop, so there's an art as well as a science to it. But not now. OK to thin or remove crossing branches in the fall but not the heading cuts. Reason to not do in July is because that is the heat of the summer and trees are stressed then, in most cases. But to repeat, you can't stimulate bushy growth after the tree has leafed out, have to wait until spring.
Q