I loved the Scientist Career. It was so interesting and involving. No I didn't like having to collect all the different plants and metals/crystals needed for the inventions, especially when some of them kept repeating themselves over and over again. I already did that!
So yeah, I had my scientist sim get them once, and laid them all out on the lab floor. You know those fenced off useless areas that were never used? Yeah, those areas. You were not supposed to keep sims's inventories full of stuff as it could cause game problems plus add to the sim's bills. So I laid them out on the floor in these areas, one of each. The cloning machine took care of any multiples they might need for any inventions or serums they needed to make.
It didn't really make the career easier as cloning takes time and can fail now and then. It did however, make the basis of the career more realistic for the scientist that he was. It also helped him outside of work which you will understand if you use these items for different reasons in your sim's life (collections, gardening, archeology, money, etc.).
Fun Times!
