I think scalability is important, but I don't think it has to be the main thing people focus on. When I do software development, I always optimize last. If I were to design a cryptocurrency, I would do the same thing.
But if the currency I'm trying to optimize is resistant to optimization due to faulty governance, then guess what? Governance becomes more important than scalability.
The funny part is governance doesn't tend to become an issue until you have scale... The best part is when you get double whammied and start having scale issues AND governance issues at the same time as a result.
Its pretty clear how the market is working right now. Whales are pumping altcoins, trading it for bitcoin, and then selling BTC for USD. That puts them at odds with hodlers and others who believe crypto is the future and fiat is the past. Will be interesting to see how this trend reconciles itself this year.