Lightning network is just the first example of can be done building on P2SH with payment channels.
The lightning network is a great achievement. It is quite unfortunate that people are bashing it. LN has a theoretically infinite capacity. It is absurdly more efficient than transacting on the main-chain in addition to being both decentralized (it should be) and secure as well. It is currently the only known way for Bitcoin to scale towards mainstream adoption.
The problem right now is the paucity of imagination and talent, made worse by distractions like appeals to get-rich-quick solutions, short-termism, etc.
Indeed. These controversial forks are just disruptions. I'm certain that a lot of time has been wasted (time which could have been used for developing).
Sometimes I get this feeling that these discussions are going in loops. It can get quite tiring at times.