There are some bounties that are still profitable but not so much, if you can make good research you will surely get some and i am having the feelings that more will come in the future.
For now, even $500 must look project that really good. Maybe right there is still hope. But if to join signature campaign, we must really pick it carefully or maybe we can try article campaign that let us to join many projects.
i think the times to earn $500 are away, crypto is now too popular to give away free money this big. Beside that a signature campaign on a project u believe in and you are part of it gives you the benefit by making these projects more popular to broader audience!
to succeed in a project, large-scale promotion is indeed feasible and with no small amount of funds. therefore, between the bounty campaign and the project team, it should be mutually beneficial for each task
you are right, a project with no large-scale promotion or strategic partners will have it more difficult to "scale". But the charme of these projects are that they grow slow and much more sustainable, making baby steps instead of a vapoware whitepaper or a pump and dump scheme. Important for these projects are patience, a growing community and steady developments!