I think both Scott and Brian are both trying to show that it is possible to separate the action from the actor, and to learn something even if the actor is one whom you find to be morally wrong. In Germany in WW2, POWs and concentration camp prisoners were subjected to ghastly medical experiments such as being immersed in ice water. If this experiment led to a better way to treat hypothermia, would you hesitate to use it because of the way it was discovered?

"Fas est et ab hoste doceri" - It is right to learn even from an enemy.