They created earthquakes of fear anytime they walked into town and frowned. And they could have anyone who disagreed with them humiliated and destroyed. Oddly enough, science. You have to settle for materialist, reductionist science. But you get to call yourself a scientist nonetheless.
Science gets great media coverage.
Best of all, science has inherited power-structure support in the form of governments, the military, and corporations. Yep, if you're looking for medieval rewards in the modern world, you just can't beat materialist, reductionist science. Let's take these in reverse order. In addition to salaries, there are grants, especially if you're hiding out in a university. There's money to be made, no doubt about it.