The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 plus 4 plus 4 letter word ATOMIC MASS UNIT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
T
O
M
I
C
M
A
S
S
U
N
I
T
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Scientist builds up from this small amount" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case scientist builds up from this small amount = atomic mass unit.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.