Uh... In many countries, almost all academics spend a significant portion of their time applying for funding, but I'm not clear on why you think these scientist

Uh... In many countries, almost all academics spend a significant portion of their time applying for funding, but I'm not clear on why you think these scientists don't have a genuine interest in the "truth" lol. Lay down your tinfoil hat. Scientists who discover new things, disprove some other thing, reshape human knowledge or otherwise change the status quo... these are rockstar-scientists, and everyone wants to be them and do exactly that. You can't just be a contrarian though: you have to be right.