Post one: "Wouldn't you just have to corrupt influential ones and the rest will follow suit due to peer pressure?"
The question was presented as a hypothetical to your hypothetical of corrupting 99% of scientists. Do you understand the posited question?
Post two: I find that argument really hard to comprehend. While it does make sense to me on the surface, it still feels like trust shouldn't be unquestioning because the majority of scientists say it. Isn't scientific consensus subject to constant change?
The question is: is scientific consensus a constant, or could it be revised?
Post three: But I'm not saying any of that. I just find it hard to palate that I should trust them because they're the majority and not because they have convinced me. Wouldn't it be much better to made a choice based on understanding, rather than following the majority opinion?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum - I am questioning whether a person should trust a majority held opinion just because it's held by a majority.
Now please, explain in detail which logical steps did you take to make an assumption that I "don't trust scientists"? A man of a formidable intelligence such as yours will no doubt find this task easy.