Problems like this can be mitigated or solved with policies, such as limiting tenure or forcing professors to move on after a certain term. We already do this

Problems like this can be mitigated or solved with policies, such as limiting tenure or forcing professors to move on after a certain term. We already do this with some politicians. What you're describing is really a problem with academia, not science in general. Corporations doing scientific work don't have those problems (they have other ones though), for instance.