Plant scientist into bats, surprisingly (8)
I believe the answer is:
botanist
'plant scientist' is the definition.
('botanist' can be a synonym of 'plant scientist')
'into bats surprisingly' is the wordplay.
'surprisingly' is an anagram indicator.
'into'+'bats'='intobats'
'intobats' is an anagram of 'BOTANIST'.
(Other definitions for botanist that I've seen before include "investigating bloomers, for example?" , "Someone studying plants" , "Expert in the scientific study of plants" , "Studier of plants" , "Plant studier" .)