= Solution
At atomic separations both massive exchange potentials are exponentially negligible. Molecular binding needs an interaction that survives at atomic distances; actual <chemical bonds> is governed principally by <electromagnetism> and <quantum mechanics>, with a massless <photon> rather than a scalar mediator. A hypothetical massless scalar would also have an unscreened $1/r$ potential, but its coupling and spin-dependent phenomenology would be different. The <Higgs mechanism> affects particle <masses>; that does not imply an appreciable direct Higgs-exchange force between atoms separated by $10^{-10}\,\mathrm m$.
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