Scientists are government grant recipients.
**********
And “consultants” work under contracts, typically of the cost plus variety wherein all your costs and a fee are paid by the government. Consultants tend to write what they are told to write. Wise consultants quickly grasp the “direction” the customer wants to go in. To write otherwise is to jeopardize the current and all future contracts. Not good if you want to stay in business, or continue “adding value” as consultants are so apt to say.
I used to work as a consultant and on several occasions had the unpleasant experience of telling customer things they didn’t want to hear. You have to tread lightly when you do that. lol
“Politics pollutes everything.” That hypothesis has been proven many times over.