Bitcoin is NOT dominated by a few major players. A few years ago when some large commercial players wanted to increase the block size, they weren't able to do so because a majority of nodes on the network rejected their code.
The Bitcoin network has stayed remarkably stable and it's still possible to run a node on a raspberry pi, which is done exactly because the Bitcoin community value the ability of normal people to participate and be able to verify their transactions and that of the whole chain.
Concerning scams. Let's look at another relatively open technology. Email.
The vast majority of emails are actually spam, and a lot of those are scams (phishing, Nigerian princes etc.). In the beginning a lot of people fell for email scams, many still do, but by and large people are aware they exist and are able to use email productively without constantly falling victim to scams.
Exactly the opposite has happened: most players, including the lead developers, wanted block size to increase, because of the insane fees. But a small minority, who happened to hold the passwords to some major sites like bitcointalk, bitcoin.org and /r/bitcoin succeeded to wrangle control over and through bans and censorship took over the bitcoin project. They promised to deliver a solution to the problems of fees in the form of Lightning network, but it failed - still doesn't work reliably after all these years. Now that governing body gave up on Bitcoin development and advance their own projects based primarily on Tether. As a result, Bitcoin development has stagnated compared to competition, which is reflected in its market share diminishing.
Most people who have Bitcoin don't spend it, only trade it. If you're only trading it, then your only interaction with Bitcoin is via exchanges. A handful of exchanges control most of the trades.
The Bitcoin network has stayed remarkably stable and it's still possible to run a node on a raspberry pi, which is done exactly because the Bitcoin community value the ability of normal people to participate and be able to verify their transactions and that of the whole chain.
Concerning scams. Let's look at another relatively open technology. Email.
The vast majority of emails are actually spam, and a lot of those are scams (phishing, Nigerian princes etc.). In the beginning a lot of people fell for email scams, many still do, but by and large people are aware they exist and are able to use email productively without constantly falling victim to scams.