A lot of scientists are ether self taught coders, or taught by other self taught scientists and so are ignorant of bad practices to avoid. Developers with experience should be helping educate the scientists in a positive way that the scientists don't feel like they are considered idiots by the developers. Respect is the key.
The problem with the startup you describe sounds more like a management problem. Hacked code that sometimes works is not code that should be used more than once and it should be rewritten before check in. If the scientists don't know how to do this then they need to be helped.
The problem with the startup you describe sounds more like a management problem. Hacked code that sometimes works is not code that should be used more than once and it should be rewritten before check in. If the scientists don't know how to do this then they need to be helped.