You can be fairly self-sufficient as a scholar (historian vocation), and use the potions you make besides. Not so great for selling though, as the only people who can use the mats are other scholars.
Scholar scrolls can add to group buffs, too. Dyes I find to be useless.
Just be aware that Scholar is a bitch to master, compared to the other ones. Getting mats requires either killing humanoids, or farming nodes where humanoids are. This gets more tedious than just farming ore nodes. I found it's pretty easy to get enough mats while leveling to at least open up the next tier, but I'm currently stuck at Artisan for trying to master it. Scholar's also make a bunch of the buff items for Hunters and the class items for Hunters and Loremasters.
The minor pain of getting to Journeyman Scholar paid for itself after that first batch of Fire Oil sent to my hunter. Fire Oil is keen.
I will also mention that hides are incredibly easy to get. Just ask in kin chat and someone will hook you up. I could probably farm and boil a stack of lower tier pretty quickly all by myself since nearly everything drops hide.
Why am I homeless? Why do all you motherfuckers need homes is the real question. They called it The Prayer, its answer was law Mommy come back 'cause the water's all gone