We learned in The Art of Rogue One that Jyn’s mother was a Jedi in early drafts of the film, but Gareth Edwards and Gary Whitta go into much more detail with Entertainment Weekly on why they choose otherwise. Galen was always the scientist in the pairing, and Chirrut Imwe was developed to bring in the Force side of things instead.
Still, given Star Wars‘ surplus of daddy issues, it would have been a nice change if they’d decided to make Lyra the scientist instead…