I've been having problems scanning my black and white negatives. The highlights of  the scanned negatives have blown out and the files have been too contrasty. I initially thought that  these problem were caused   by over exposure  then the  overdevelopment of the negatives. This is an example:

No matter what I do with these kind of files,  the whites go muddy. It's hopeless. 

Yesterday, when I was scanning with the  Epson V700  flatbed using the  Epson software upgrade for the Mac's latest  operating system (Mountain Lion)  I decreased the contrast  on a similar negative  making it  flat and grey  to see what difference  this would make.  

The result above  is a file that I am able  to  work on with respect the highlights.  

So my problems were caused by  the  scanning. Before the software upgrade I did not have a reduce contrast option. What was being scanned  was way too contrasty when using the old basic  Epson Scan software  that came with the scanner.