Why aren't scientists richer?
Your fundamental mistake is to assume that our civilization is run with goals.  

It is simply not the case that we have a well-coordinated world of that type.  Instead, the allocation of money and political power are tightly intertwined, and the resources that are devoted to science are determined by the interplay of political struggles and economic markets.  Those produce very different outcomes in different places and times, from the fairly high investment in science in places like 1950s and 1960s America to the dismally low investment in science in, say, the mid-Ottoman empire or contemporary Somalia.  

Arguments such as the one that you put forth must contend against many other arguments, including people's need for food, shelter and security, their desire for power over others and to advance other causes (wise or foolish), etc.  Right now, scientists are not rich, and if you wish to change that fact, you should not look to science to bring about such a change.