Well, as good a judge of personality as I am, I had a little help arriving at the "this probably isn't a red herring" conclusion. Johns basically SAYS he's using this as Barry's new motivation, and Barry became a forensics scientist trying to prove his father's innocence.
IGN Comics: Knowing so many fans will be unfamiliar with Barry, how are you planning on introducing him to a whole new generation?
Johns: Well the whole idea is to introduce Barry Allen to everybody, period. I think even people who know Barry Allen will find things in issue #1 that they've never seen before. We've never really visited Barry Allen's past before he got hit by the bolt of lightning. And so some of what Rebirth is going to do is delve back into the past and reveal some things about it that previously weren't there.
IGN Comics: You're speaking specifically of the whole tragedy involving his father and mother?
Johns: Yes.
IGN Comics: That's interesting, because as far as I know, the character never really had any tragedy in his life up until the big Professor Zoom story right before Crisis. Why did you think it was important to bring some tragedy into his back-story?
Johns: What we'll find out is we'll see what drove him to adopt such a strong sense of justice. I really want to explore what drove Barry Allen to adopt his uncanny sense of wrong and right. You're not just born with that. Barry Allen strove for that and was somewhat obsessed with it. Also, it's about why he got into forensics. What led him to that area of work? Why not become a cop or a prosecutor? Why forensics? That's something I really wanted to explore – what drove Barry Allen to this life that he chose? What made him Barry Allen before he was hit by the bolt of lightning?