Dunno about the scotsman bit - not all scientists are Scotsmen, some are German.

As to materialism, that just comes from lazy-mindedness. "What the scientists say is the truth." is no diferent from "What the priests say is the truth." and basically means "I don't want to think about it."

Not sure what you mean by 'public scientists', either. An actual scientist will say "This is where we are right now in terms of knowledge and theory. We don't know all the answers, but we'll keep looking!" A opposed to, say, an engineer, who will be more "This works better and faster than the old one."

If you mean the type of media personaity or talking head who 'explains' science in laymans terms on the idiot box, then they always horribly over -simplify stuff and serious people shouldn't listen to them.

Scientists don't say that thought or consciousness comes from the brain. They say that when a person is conscious or thinking, certain things happen in the brain - not the heart or kidneys - so thought and consciousness must in some way be connected with the brain, and that certain areas of the brain seem to be connected with specific functions because damage to them inhibits or alters those functions. They still don't fully know how it all works, but they'll carry on looking. You can't in all honesty expect them to say "It must be the soul, or God." and give up looking!