I think a lot of scientists would actually do "boring research". (a) they actually know such work is useful (b) some know that they don't produce work as good as the best in the field, but are happy to do more grunt work at lower stress level, rather than endlessly chasing "high impact" publications.

Unfortunately, there is no funding for such research. Which is find really sad. Private grants might need to show "impact" but State run grants don't have that many constraints, and they could conceivably offer such grants.