A data scientist doesn't command the same premium as a machine learning engineer or a kubernetes expert, I'm afraid

Depends where. I'm at Amazon, and they are really serious about not letting DS become just business analysts who just SQL/Python. But elsewhere I do get the impression there is some dilution. Although honestly, that's natural. Just like how in the SDE world there are template web devs and hardcore infrastructure guys, who get paid massively different amounts but have the same job title, that's happening to DS.

Depends on the location and company. In a smaller city working for a smaller company an entry level data scientist might be happy to pull in 60k. In a major city working for a large company you can at the very least double that number.

If the person can do all of these in a way that makes them a profitable investment, it doesn't really seem so high