Oh, absolutely; the big ad agency where I worked until earlier this year had an entire data science department (and, yes, some of the leadership in that group had PhDs). Hell, I am technically a quant jock, as my master’s is in market research, the first decade of my career was in market research, and I still do quantitative analysis from time to time.
Even so, and to reiterate the second half of my post which you quoted: I’d be surprised if such jobs at companies that are not engineering or science-related (e.g., finance, advertising, etc.) are going to be seriously looking at someone with a BS in physics for an entry-level position; they are going to want candidates whose education, internships, etc. also gives them other important skills and experience for that particular industry, and that likely means someone with a related degree.
But, what the hell do I know? I’m almost 40 years removed from being an entry-level person. Maybe I’m flat-out wrong.