[lisper]

IMHO it is important to distinguish between doing science and being a professional scientist for the same reason it's important to distinguish between (say) playing a sport or a musical instrument and being a professional athlete or musician. Sports and music are democratized in ways that science is not. It is taken for granted that people can play sports or musical instruments without being professionals, but for some reason this is not the case in science. The profession of science oozes with disdain bordering on contempt for those who are not members of the club. This is a very serious problem in our society. It's the reason that climate-change denialists and young-earth creationists get as much traction as they do.

The Mythbusters were not professional scientists (they were professional entertainers), but they absolutely did science. And they did good science. Your dismissal of them is IMHO a symptom of the problem that they more than anyone else took a step toward solving.