Digital BW, The Print

I am new to this newsgroup & I hope this topic is correct for the 
group.

I have gotten aware from black & white since moving to mainly digital 
capture.  I am now attempting to re-enter producing black & white 
images in the digital darkroom.  I am not new to digital, just to 
digital b&w.

I currently have an Epson 2450 scanner which works "ok" for medium 
format transparencies.  When I attempt to scan b&w negative film 
however, the results are horrible.  Here is my two current questions.

1)  How do you get good scans of b&w negative film?

2)  When I scan b&w negative film and then open it in Photoshop, the 
file is still a negative.  It has not been converted to a positive.  
Also, the exposure is wayyyyyy off!  Always to dark, even though 
during the scanning process the exposure looks fine.  What am I doing 
wrong?

My work flow is:
Epson 2450 scanner
Viewscan 7.6.18 scan software
Photoshop CS
Epson 2000 printer
Quadtone for Windows b&w printing software

By the way, I can print b&w fine with desiderated color images.

Bruce Varner
Kansas City metro area