Who knows
"Massacre of Glencoe" "Flower of Scotland" etc and any other good popular songs in the "folk?" genre would have become Music Hall or Variety Theatre hits had the been written at the time.
Would they no longer be folk songs in the eyes of the people who categorise songs as nonfolk when "non folk" entertainers sing or play them.
Seems like a form of snobbery againt success to me. A lot of good "Folk" entertainers have suffered from it. As was seen in the recent Corries thread

Tam the Bam - Q what has 56 legs and 55 teeth -
             A1 The front row at a Sydney Devine concert
             A2 The front row at a Daniel O'Donnell concert
They both bring a smile to the faces of a lot of people, different smiles from different people.