Does “scholarly outcome” here mean research work?

Partly, but not exclusively.

In your specific example:

Funding A then many studies of A

Funding B then few studies of B

the scholarly outcome does include the amount of research produced.

But “scholarly outcome” is broader.

It can include:

what gets researched;

what gets published;

what becomes influential;

what gets cited;

what becomes dominant;

what gets taught;

what becomes regarded as legitimate.

So:

Amount of research produced is one scholarly outcome, not the entire meaning of scholarly outcome.