Sleepy, I agree with pretty much everything you said. The Society has a few true scholars associated with it, in the sense of what people normally think of as accredited scholars, and they have a number of people associated who are experts in certain fields, such as Neo-Babylonian history. But because they all buy into the "faithful slave who speaks for God" doctrine, their scholarship is bastardized into something that merely supports pre-existing Watchtower teachings. These scholars certainly hold private beliefs, and because the Society explicitly allows them to discuss "contrary opinions" because JW leaders have assigned them to do so, these "contrary opinions" are sometimes thrown out onto the table of discussion. But often the "contrary opinions", even though factual, are ignored by the leaders for any number of reasons, and so the scholars are forced to shut up or be booted out. So I would have to say that most JW scholars -- and there are precious few -- have prostituted their minds to the Society.
I had a discussion some years ago with the Society's resident scholar on Neo-Babylonian history. We discussed the fact that the Society (and of course he) was unable to reconcile the clear statements in Jeremiah 25:11, 12 with the rest of their ideas. Of course, these statements are quite unarguable, and that's why they won't discuss them, because they kill the 1914 chronology quite effectively. I asked him how a good Witness should view the fact that the Bible itself contradicts JW teachings here. All he could say was, "Wait on Jehovah". All I could think was, "You hypocritical intellectual prostitute!"
AlanF