I'd like to remind agenda skeptical people that scientists, especially high level research scientists, were generally nerds in their entire school lives, and quite used to not "being in the In Crowd" and who pride themselves in being above petty politics and mundane squabbling. An example of this is during the height of the Cold War, even during the Cuban Missile Crisis, many Russian and US scientists remained in contact with each other in their fields as if nothing special was going on. Naturally because Russia was so secretive about weaponry and booster development, and there were areas forbidden in the US as well, not every field enjoyed such openness but Astronomy and Mathematics were just two that maintained constructive dialogue.
While it is impossible to entirely escape one's culture, upbringing and personal prejudice it is the community effort and peer review that tends to cancel such skewed views out. There is no one Authority. Surely you have seen that not only have public luminaries like Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Neil deGrasse Tyson not been "sacred cows" and subject to criticism but in many cases their stature is something like Top Gun, making them even more of a target to be added as a notch on one's stock.
This is not just an imagination at work nor an attempt at spin. I majored in Engineering in college and had the pleasure of knowing several low-level scientists employed at Goddard Space Flight Center and subscribe to a number of Science Forums to this day, and pretty much everyone finds politics as boring as Tic Tac Toe, and even likely evidence of a mundane mind, not truly devoted to objectivity and hard line truth.
Do some scientists IN THE EMPLOY of corporations bend to the concerns of their employers? Certainly! but they don't run top level research. The Oil Lobby is possibly the most powerful lobby of all in the US and the Koch Brothers have proudly admitted spending many millions of dollars not only to counter and squelch objective research but to destroy the careers of politicians who even mention Renewable Energy or anything they see as an obstacle to business as usual.
Here's a link for any unfamiliar with the level of interference with objective truth exercised by the Koch's vast empire but you can find many more from fat more conservative publications that tell a similar story because it is not only simple fact, but lately flouted as a "no need to hide now that we are omnipotent" attitude prevails.
--- The Koch Influence ---
For an example of private individual research over decades see
--- Chasing Ice - Fixed --- or view more recent satellite photo evidence. There is quite literally not a single scientist not employed by an oil interest firm who is not certain that human-caused global climate change is a reality. Some disagree on details but not one denies it is happening and cause for some alarm. Do your research. Decide for yourselves, but don't imagine scientists see this as some sort of meal ticket. Most not only couldn't be bothered by such mundane concerns but see it as personal intellectual slavery and career suicide.
