Preflight agreement about the conduct of the flight including the "One Dissenting Vote Rule" would have prevented that problem. ODV rule means one vote to turn around, go home, land out, terminate the flight.....wins.
As soon as the aircraft entered cloud.....in deteriorating conditions....it is time to activate ODV. Go for the better vis and cloud height and make further decisions that only improve the situation.
There is no flight that has to be done today....none. When you hit yer limits...quit and come back again when you can maintain your limits or better.