Well, if the conditions are such that the arriving aircraft cannot see an
aircraft on the runway, it's unlikely the aircraft on the runway could have
spotted the arriving aircraft even if it had been cocked towards it. The
aircraft on the runway has to scan a larger area and at varying distances.
The arriving aircraft has to scan a much smaller area and at a fixed
distance, the runway surface.

Black cat in a coal mine at night, hiding from a miner with a
flashlight. Who's got the odds?

The landing light may have made the arriving aircraft harder to spot. In
WWII it was found that forward facing lights mounted on ASW aircraft allowed
them to get closer to surfaced submarines before being spotted.

Maybe. I haven't seen the study but do see where this could be true.
I've also read that bright colors in angular patterns made better
camoflauge than the standard green on green.

Depending on how the light hit, it could go either way in any specific case.

Jose
--
Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
except there's no God, and there's no dice. And maybe there's no universe.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.