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When the first cracks in relativity appear, if it ever happens, it will be hard to have the new theory ready to go. That hardly makes the first scientists to address the problem less real than the later ones.

The fact that relativity is incomplete is a "crack". Einstein, for all the positive accomplishments, never completed his pursuits to his own satisfaction.

The "first scientists" in my point are one's who have the easy answer, the answer that does not require thinking outside the box. You're right. That does not mean they are not scientists. They may be very good scientists. There are scientists who are better suited to the tasks like laboratory testing, and there are scientists who are better suited to theoretical explorations.

The next generation of breakthroughs will most likely come from those scientists who have a solid foundation in epistemology and philosophy, not merely methodology. They understand the reason behind the methods.

Scientific realists may be true scientists, but breakthrough theories like Einstein's come from minds not trapped by realism.