A project will rise if they are still currently developing or has a product that are active and currently service it's utility, I don't think there is a low chance that devs will try to run and abandon their project development in a bear market where their project didn't reached it full potential though this only is applicable to those project who has gathered the community trust and is being anticipated for. Remember that no one will buy a dead/abandoned/project that has no project updates unless the investor is a Degen. No buyer means there are no chance of it rising up even it's a bull market.
I think it's a common sense that choosing a wrong altcoin will lead you in losing your money lol.
I don't like how most people call all altcoins together a scam. There have been thousands of scam projects throughout the history of crypto. In opposition, in the last few years, some sort of real projects that aim to build something useful and facilitate the usage of crypto in many sectors have started to appear. Indeed, we can't deny that some altcoins were exceptional investments and yielded high profit for their investors, while they were building and developing at the same time. However, there are many tools that enable any investor to check some metrics that could refer to the worthiness of the project, like the development activity, circulation supply, etc...
In my opinion, altcoins are a need for the market, and there will always be good investment opportunities in them.