I think that the few who have both the ability and the drive to move science forward can be filtered by these two traits, and sort of already are. Their ability allows them to enter academia after working hard on their degree. Their drive keeps them in, severely underpaid compared to industrial careers.

There is a fable about a king and the royal astronomer. The king finds out that the astronomer is paid half as much as the palace's gatekeeper, and wants to increase the astronomer's pay to be comfortably above the gatekeeper's, to help further the science. The astronomer begs him to not do it, else those who now aspire to serve as a palace gatekeeper would try to secure the more lucrative position of the royal astronomer, to the detriment of the actual astronomical studies.

Unfortunately, currently academia equally selects by the ability to write grant applications full time and, at least in some areas, by the ability to produce showy results. Also, the choice is usually between rather short contracts and very hard-to-obtain tenure; the job security is pretty shaky unless you manage to become a full professor. This is sad and frustrating to those who strives to do science. I've seen a few of my acquaintances leave academy for industry, some with relief, some grudgingly.