I think the history of COVID disagrees with this.

If the scientist is completely wrong then the impact is that governments and the public took precautions that were unnecessary. But most of those impacts e.g. banning visitors from hot-spots, stronger health measures e.g. mask-wearing come with limited downsides and potentially huge upsides i.e. saving lives.

So it seems like that scientists should do more to engage with the public and communicate any potential threats as clearly and early as possible.