most of those people already have really well paying jobs in finance (or satisfying careers in academia)
I've always taken the data scientist distinction to be the startup world's answer to the "quant" designation. Quant jobs are a lot better than "just a" programmer jobs, even at hot startups, so I see the "data scientist" title as an answer to that. It's a startup quant.
Yeah, I've actually heard people use the terms interchangeably. Although 'quant' is almost exclusively used in the finance world. I interviewed for a couple of those jobs and got caught up on stuff I've never heard of before, like pricing bonds and combining interest rates.
I've always taken the data scientist distinction to be the startup world's answer to the "quant" designation. Quant jobs are a lot better than "just a" programmer jobs, even at hot startups, so I see the "data scientist" title as an answer to that. It's a startup quant.