If the NSF was scrapped, what would the scientific world look like? Probably like the world before WW2, when most science was done by hobbyists or "inventors".

There were scientists who received financial backing from wealthy individuals in a manner not so different than VCs operate today; Tesla among them.

Regardless, I tend to agree that science that exists for the sake of publishing, because publishing is a requirement of receiving grants, has diluted the respectability of science.