Individual scientists do science because it is fun and pays the bills. Why would society finance this? I think it is done to achieve prediction and control. Control over whatever can be controlled (physical things, people, abstract concepts) and prediction of what cannot be controlled (weather, earthquakes, evolution of the universe).
Control is something evolution has made people desire (control is commonly used to change the environment to improve people’s survival and reproduction). Prediction allows people to adjust themselves to aspects of the environment that they cannot change to suit themselves. Prediction is also part of learning to control: predict a response, take an action, observe if the response to the action is the one predicted.
If prediction and control are the goals humanity sets science, then scientists and fields of study should be evaluated based on their contribution to these goals. For example, studying history is useful if it helps predict or control future history.
A small contribution of science may be entertainment (popular science shows and news), which may justify financing interesting and entertaining science even if it does not contribute much in other respects.