but science has all sorts of built in safeguards to keep their precious dating methodologies from ever being wrong, right???
Your ignorance of how science works is deplorable. Whoever turns out to be right in the dating scale argument, the point is that scientific theories are always constantly refined as better data becomes available. The theory of operation of the solid state devices in your computer have changed markedly since the PC was invented. PCs are not "invalid" or "useless" because the underlying theory of solid state physics has been modified and improved.
Since we only discovered how to sequence DNA reliably and economically starting in the mid 1980s a process that has improved rapidly in subsequent years, its application to biological study, archaeo-biology, paleontology, etc. is very very recent, and of course understanding is rapidly progressing, and conclusions changing.
That our understanding is being refined does not invalidate underlying techniques and premises, i.e. the theory that life evolves based upon genetic mutations and competitive selection for fitness in an environment.
The "safeguard" is the same as in any area of science: Continue to challenge and test your assumptions. Constantly incorporate new and independent data in doing so.
IOW, exactly what is being done in this study.