Mainstream media isn't a reason for people's thought on bitcoin as a scam. These days media too looks supportive to the cryptocurrency network. There is lack of understanding, and in particular is termed as scam due to the greed of common people.
People out of greed invest on some form of multiplier scam or on MLM based scams promoted in the name of bitcoin. When one gets fooled, he/she never agree its their mistakes. The same is termed as the failure of bitcoin, and this person spreads it in the negative way. This is why people think bitcoin a scam.
Good point. People who often experience a bad investment, think Bitcoin is a scam. But it's all a misconception about the pioneer cryptocurrency. Once they know that no one controls Bitcoin, they'll stop thinking that it's a complete fraud. I've seen how people believe Bitcoin is controlled by a single entity (like developers), when that's not largely the case. It's the common mindset in the mainstream world, since we've been accustomed to Fiat's level of centralization for a long time. I think that with due time, people will be able to distance scams from Bitcoin itself. The crypto community needs to spread the word out there about Bitcoin's benefits to the mainstream world. With proper education, people will learn that scams are not directly tied to Bitcoin itself.
Nonetheless, I think Bitcoin has reached a point where scams have little to no effect over its reputation in the mainstream world. While most people still think it's a scam, they'll get "over it" once they realize the true benefits of Bitcoin over Fiat. The ever-rising popularity of "De-Fi" and Stablecoins should leave Bitcoin in the headlines. Already in this pandemic, people are starting to see Bitcoin as an alternative to Gold. With heavy-handed regulations, scams will be reduced to a point where they'll no longer pose a threat to Bitcoin. It'll up to the people themselves to take responsibilities to protect themselves against undesired situations in the crypto/Blockchain space. Just my thoughts