Template to list categories in custom taxonomy

I managed to sort this using:

<?php $category_ids = get_all_category_ids(); ?>
      <?php
      $args = array(
         'orderby' => 'slug',
         'parent' => 0,
        'taxonomy' => 'servicecats'
      );
      $categories = get_categories( $args );
      foreach ( $categories as $category ) {
         echo '<li><img src=""/><a href="' . get_category_link( $category->term_id ) . '" rel="bookmark">' . $category->name . '' . '' . $category->description . '</a></li>';
      }
     ?>

Would still like to know how to also show the empty categories though if anyone could offer advice on this?