At first people still thought it was a scam until Bitcoin started fulfilling its vision by creating initiatives that not only spurs other crypto currencies to do better but also brings profit to the investor who has faith in its modus operandi.
BTC's 'initiative' is not what you have just said above, BTC has always been a decentralized and censorship resistant currency, and that is what Satoshi created it to be, as a p2p electronic cash, it had nothing to do with profit as you say it. BTC is not a scam because it is an open source project, and everyone can verify everything themselves and understand how it works. BTC is a tool that people can use to scam, just like every other tool, but it is not a scam in itself.
Afterall, it has been adopted by several countries as a legal tender
El Salvador is the only country that has adopted BTC as a legal tender.