So since you said "Scholars say this" I think its only decent to give this scholar said that. If you made an assumption, just say you made an assumption and that's it. Maybe some scholars thought that "it was a community leader following Paul" but then that would directly against the actual reasons for all those scholars you mentioned like Ehrman, Metzger, Brown, FF Bruce, etc etc to believe the authorship of the pastoral letters is not of Paul.
There is a big difference between being
of Paul and
by Paul.
First, I did not place the statement 'community leader' in quotations.
Second, you seem to be looking for definitive conclusions from scholars which is not possible.
The best of the best may offer no more than their scholarly hypotheses, one which they consider to be the most probable. And that's all we will ever have because making history present is not possible.
Following are concerned with the Pastorals.
1 All three Pastorals are genuinely by Paul, written in the order Titus, I-II Tim during a "second career" ca. 65-67, culminating in second Roman imprisonment.
2 If Tim is genuinely by Paul, written ca. 64 or shortly afterwards at the end of his one, prolonged Roman imprisonment that led to his death. Titus and II Tim are pseudonymous, written later, most likely toward the end of the 1st century, partly in imitation of II Tim. A "second career" was created.
3 All three Pastorals are pseudonymous, but II Tim was written not long after Paul's death as a farewell testament by someone who knew Paul's last days, so that the biographical details therein would be largely historical, even if dramatized with some license. Titus and I Tim were written pseudonymously later, most likely toward the end of the 1st century, partly in imitation of II Tim. A "second career" was created.
4 All three Pastorals are pseudonymous, written in the order Titus, I-II Tim most likely toward the end of 1st century. A "second career" was shaped (probably fictionally) with a second Roman imprisonment, so that he might speak final words about issues now troubling areas once evangelized by the apostle.
Getting back to my 'community leader' statement; 'the majority would support some continuity with 'Paul's own ministry and thought', to me that's a leader in the later Pauline community.
"About 80 to 90 percent of modern scholars would agree that the Pastorals were written after Paul's lifetime, and of those the majority would accept the period between 80 and 100 as the most plausible context for their composition."
excerpts Pastoral Letters 'Introduction New Testament'