"Any Material or Map I create for some reason the default is set to Show in viewport."
That is odd. As far as I know, the default behavior in max still is that when a material that has a bitmap (for example in the diffuse slot) is newly assigned to an object, that map is not displayed in the viewport until you enable the "show shaded material in viewport" button for that material in the material editor. That is the behavior I still get with Max 2020.3. I am aware that there is a 3rd party startup script available (called Show shaded material in viewport.ms) that automatically shows the shaded material in the viewport, but it sounds like you are very familiar with max and would not have installed that on your system.
"I don't want to have to change the viewport settings constantly to check the scale of 1 bitmap on working on."
I can understand that, I just don't know another quick way of toggling off the show shaded material in viewport if it has already been turned on for all your bitmaps: the menu item options for showing shaded or realistic materials with or without maps that are available from the viewport or from the Material Editor >Material>Show Shaded material As.... are global and would toggle this setting on or off for all bitmaps. And then you would separately have to use the little Show Shaded Material in viewport button in the material editor (which is material-specific) for the material you are currently tweaking. So not optimal but a workaround.
As I cannot replicate the default behavior you describe, maybe someone else here has encountered this issue and can help.
