[Nevermark]

I cannot understand why the cultural understanding of planet wasn't respected, while still making whatever nuanced distinction scientists wanted.

My solution would have been:

Planet = any standalone body in space, formed around a star or brown dwarf, large enough for gravity to mold it into a sphere, but not massive enough to enable any fusion. (i.e. exclude stars and brown dwarfs).

Then:

Major planet: Planet that has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. We have 8 of these.

Minor planet: Planet that has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. This would include Pluto, Ceres, and many extra-Pluto bodies.

The current scientific definition is tortured. I.e. a "dwarf planet" is not a "planet", which is just unintuitive nomenclature grammatically, as well as violating the regular use of the word "planet".