My Science Fiction Plot

The scientists accidentally destroy the world. As a side effect they are hurled into the past. Naturally they want to prevent a repetition. They decide to make the topic appear so famously crackpot that no other scientist will ever dare pursue research in this area. So they start a cult centered around their work. The cult has to be big enough that it will never peter out yet so ridiculous that no educated person will have anything to do with anything that even suggests this.

Since they are from the future they are able to make very accurate predictions of events. This attracts converts. They propagandize the cult members that the scientists are the sole source of truth, then foment a doctrine of their research mixed with blatant nonsense. They pile up enough investments in a safe place to last indefinitely. In order to maintain their income from this cache the cult officers will be sure to keep the scam going. Then the scientists deliberately engage in outrageous fraud, sex, and drug scandals in order to discredit the organization. It works. The world is saved.