Can we bridge Society-Scholarship disconnect?

If the Vocation Lectures were only a fragment of Weber’s thought, than Weber thought of tons of things. The lectures not only covered the vocations themselves, but offered insights into both professions, and what the two professions do for society. Ultimately, Weber concludes both professions are meaningless unless the professional gives them proper context.
The lecture that fascinated me the most was the lecture on “science”, which I prefer to call scholarship. Scholarship, as Weber notes, is an inefficient process. No one truly knows when information is truly needed, but only that it will be used one day. Here, there is a disconnect between knowledge and the real world, leaving most people confused about how knowledge applies. Far from the Platonic idea of science as blessed sunlight, Weber says knowledge confuses, and just leads to more questions.
So what is the use of scholarship? Is it worthwhile to fund such an inefficient enterprise? Scholarship cannot survive without government funding or philanthropy (or students’ very generous contributions). As scholarship increases, it will seem more mystical to society, as it will have only a few direct applications. Why?