Can I run a script on a .max scene without opening it in the
UI?

Is there a way to run a maxscript on a .max scene without opening the
scene in the UI?

And the reason I'm asking is...for years I have been using Summed Area
filtering on most of my bitmaps.  With the latest version (Viz2008),
when I try to open an old scene I very often get the "Cannot allocate
filter tables" error, which leads to a crash.  The is usually a single
large bitmap used for an environment map, which explodes the memory
use.  All I have to do is open the scene and change the filtering...but
I can't open the scene UNTIL I change the filtering...and I can't change
the filtering without opening the scene.

So I currently note the bitmap file name from the error dialog, kill Viz
using Task Manager, then go and copy the file out to a backup location,
then resize the image way down in Photoshop, save it, then re-launch
Viz, re-open the scene, then change the filtering, move the full-size
bitmap back in, and re-load the bitmap... evey time I need to open an
old scene or an old material library!   Uggh.

I can write a maxscript to change the filtering without opening the
material editor, but is there any way to run it without having the scene
open in Viz?  Or is there a way to run Viz without actually loading any
bitmaps?